The Forged (2023-)

In the eleventh millennium of the Eternal Empress’s reign, the Forged are deployed. This elite unit of super soldiers, engineered for planetary-scale demolition, is dispatched on what should be a standard compliance action. Their doctrine is absolute: they take no prisoners. The operation begins with the familiar, brutal efficiency of orbital bombardment and ground-level purges. But within the target zone, something deviates from the established parameters. The squad’s seamless, violent routine encounters an anomaly their conditioning did not anticipate. The air in the breach point smells of ozone and scorched, unfamiliar alloys.