The transition from a regional power to a burgeoning Galactic Empire was not marked by the thunder of cannons, but by the relentless, gravitational pull of a new cosmic order. The "Bite" taken out of the Orion-Sigma cluster had served its purpose as a grim deterrent. While the Nebula Kings nursed their diminished forms and paid their tribute of twenty Stellar-Cores, Aegis and Caelum turned their eyes toward the vast, unclaimed territories of the mid-rim.
They did not march with banners flying. Instead, they expanded through a process Aegis called "Causal Integration." To the rest of the galaxy, it looked like a string of coincidental economic collapses and local revolutions in the surrounding sectors. In reality, it was the "Devour" skill operating on a macro-political scale, and Caelum's "nullity" acting as the silent anchor that kept the neighbors from interfering.
