text: [Themes: sci-fi, war]
  
  You stand up, motioning for everyone to be silent. Once everyone has quieted down, you begin to address them all.
  
  ''Gentlemen...'' you begin, placing both hands behind your back, holding onto your two Glock pistols attached to the back of your belt. ''I wanted to thank you for your support in taking down our mutual enemy, the Legion. Likewise, I assume you would like to thank me for my support as well.''
  
  All three gang leaders nod, before raising their glasses to you, offering a toast, and downing their contents.
  
  ''Now, more than ever, it is time to be united. We cannot let asswipes like the Legionnaires think they can just waltz in the Great Southern Wasteland and act like they own the damn place!''
  
  ''Yeah!'' they all shout in unison.
  
  ''Glad you agree...'' you mutter, finally withdrawing your pistols and firing at them. Derrick Chains of the Skinners, Howard Pharey of the Red Jackals and Nutriyar Marspetz of the Pioneers are all dead, with several holes in each of their torsos.
  
  You then order some Warlords to decapitate the bodies. After a couple of minutes, they finish the job. You grab hold of a longsword and drive it through all three heads, creating a macabre totem. Walking with it outside, you climb up the stairs to the city walls and shout out:
  
  ''These are your fearless leaders! Now bow to me, or suffer their fate!''
  
  Some brief fighting ensues, although most of the members of the other gangs are quite quick to join your side after that show of power. The rest are all killed and as a sign of goodwill to the members of the Red Jackals, you allow them to eat them. The following day, you use their skeletons to decorate the inside of the former senate building, which you've made into your personal palace. You also rename New Hope to Warthunder City.
  
  Warthunder City, September 2324:
  
  Six years have passed since you became ascended as Warchief of the Warlords, and things have changed quite a lot. You've renamed your faction, since you are now no longer a gang, but an Empire. Now known as the Aether Imperium, your faction's territory occupies most of the Great Southern Wasteland. You've crowned yourself as Warlord Emperor of the Aether Imperium, and commanded your great army through conquest after conquest, until there was no city or settlement left that wasn't under your control in the entire desert of the Great Southern Wasteland. Your government is ran on a pretty feudal system, with you as the Warlord Emperor, some trusted Warlord Generals under your direct command, and everyone else beneath them. Smaller settlements produce resources for the cities to survive on, sometimes willingly, sometimes through forced labor.
  
  You've learned that there is an underground movement pushing for democracy, calling themselves the ''Old World Legacy''. A few of your spies infiltrated one of their meetings in Beam City, and all of them report having seen Rawrock Greveth attending, and even holding a long speech aimed to discredit your reign. Later that same evening, you meet with Harold Pike, the head of your secret police.
  
  As you sit on your throne inside of your underground meeting room, he approaches and respectfully kneels before you, after which speaking.
  
  ''Your Imperial Majesty, with all due respect, Warlord General Rawrock Greveth is unworthy of his title, and, due to his vile actions against your just rule, also unworthy of his life. I assume that you agree that killing him is the best course of action. Would you like me to order an assassination and make it look like it has been done by separatist elements in Hayville, rather than have him publicly executed, as to avoid causing any rucus?''
  
  You look at him and think about what to do.
  
  > have him assassinated and purge Hayville
  ''Go ahead with that plan.'' you finally answer. Harold stands, bows once more and then turns around and exits the meeting room.
  
  Hayville, the following day...
  
  You, Rawrock and a couple dozen overly loyal members of your Elite Imperial Guard, along with Harold Pike and a few of his top spies, are standing at the outskirts of the small settlement of Hayville.
  
  ''So, you never told me what this mission is about, Aether... Care to let me know now?'' Rawrock asks, looking at you, but you do not reply.
  
  You raise your arm, and all soldiers you brought along raise their weapons and aim them at Rawrock. He makes a confused facial expression, before looking at you.
  
  ''The hell? Aether, what is this?''
  
  ''Your death, you traitorous pile of shit.'' you answer, punching him in the face with full force, knocking him to the ground, half-conscious. ''Kill him'', you order. Immediately, every gun aimed at Rawrock fires at least a full clip, until his body is nothing but an unrecognizable heap of gore. Everyone reloads their weapons, and you get on your motorcycle, beginning to ride back towards Warthunder City.
  
  ''You know what you have to do. No survivors.'' you order your men, before finally departing.
  
  Warthunder City, October 2324
  
  You are awoken early at dawn by the sound of fighting outside of your Palace. Several of your Elite Imperial Guards rush in your bedroom.
  
  ''Your Imperial Majesty! The rebels have taken to the streets! They have the support of most of the civilians and even some of our own soldiers after what happened to Hayville!''
  
  You quickly stand up and get dressed in your combat gear, and equip your weapons. As soon as you reach the balcony, you look down below and notice an ever-decreasing number of your guards engaged in a shootout with what looks like every civilian that got a hold of a firearm in the entire capital. You even notice most of your own men have joined the rebels, leaving you with only your loyal elite guards. Running back inside the building to avoid getting shot, you quickly consider your options, coming to only two.
  
  > stand and fight
  You gather all of the guards inside of your Palace and order them to get in formation in front of you. You leave a few outside though, to keep the enemy at bay while you instruct these ones.
  
  ''My most loyal soldiers, with regret I inform you that this will be the end of our glorious Empire.'' you begin, and then notice a look of sadness on their faces. ''Nevertheless, we will neither run nor hide, for we are the incarnation of power in human form! We were the Warlords, a simple band of outlaws, and look at us now, an Empire! Some of you have been with me since the beginning, some of you are relatively new, but now is the time to prove your allegiance. These heaps of filth want to destroy everything we've worked for so hard in the past years, and they shall most likely succeed, too, but not without us putting up a last stand. We will not let them judge and execute us like petty thieves. No! We will die gloriously, fighting until the very end, because we are brave, and they are cowards! We are strong, and they are weaklings!''
  
  As soon as you finish your speech, the soldiers all let out a war cry, and it seems as if their morale has risen through the roof, if such a thing is possible. You all take positions inside of the Palace, and wait. When the last guard fighting outside has been killed by the rebels, they burst through the front doors, guns blazing. You and your remaining men retaliate brutally, killing tens upon tens of revolutionaries and, although you are fighting a losing battle, you and your men laugh and sing marches as you gun down the rebels, not being bothered that more and more of you die as well.
  
  Eventually, as night falls, it's just you and five of your Elite Imperial Guards left, against a never-ending stream of rebels charging through the doors of your Palace. You watch as your last guards get killed off, one by one, until finally, you are the last man standing on your side. Knowing you have nothing to lose, you run upstairs to your personal armory and strap yourself with thirty pounds of TNT. You set the fuse on fire, and quickly run out on the balcony, looking at the crowded street below, before finally jumping down and exploding, taking a couple hundred enemies with you in the resulting fireball.