Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 805

Chapter 799: Savior or Thief

“A Letter to Our Fellow Citizens in Disaster”

To all Imperial citizens who persevere amid the Warp’s torrents:

As you read this astropathic message, the astral tunnels in the Web and Eastern Spaces have been reopened, and the Alliance has been reunited. But this is not the end. Under my leadership, the Alliance has a higher purpose: to save the entire Imperium when necessary.

The Alliance’s support fleet has departed. While we may face many dangers, we are heading for your world.

Remember—you are never forgotten.

The Crimson Scar has severed our connection with Holy Terra. We have entered the Dark Side of the Imperium, but this does not constitute the “End State of the Imperium.” All administrative units must immediately cease the misuse of temporary laws and refrain from signing any illegal political or legal documents without authorization. The Imperium

‘s majesty will not be diminished by the cosmic barriers, and the Emperor’s will will not be dimmed by the whispers of Chaos.

As the sole High Lord of the Imperial Dark Side after the catastrophe, on behalf of the Imperial Supreme Council and the Emperor’s will, I declare to all who can hear and see this:

From this day forward, the “Imperial Dark Side Control Commission” is established.

This Commission shall serve as the highest legal authority for the Imperial Dark Side until the catastrophe ends.

Existing Planetary Governors, Sector Heads, Region Heads, and Domain Presidents shall automatically assume control authority, with vacancies filled by the highest-ranking military officer.

All planetary, sectoral, domain, and domain governments shall defend their territories, strive to minimize damage, eliminate or contain Chaos, and await the Commission’s arrival. Upon its arrival, they shall obey all directives.

I swear in the Emperor’s name:

Anyone who condones Chaos worship will have their bloodline purged back to the third generation.

Anyone who tampers with Imperial law as a provisional constitution will have their family line permanently stigmatized.

Anyone who obstructs the landing of a Commissioner will have their system subjected to the “Regulations for the Streamlined Process of Extermination Orders.”

When the stars fade, we ourselves are the moving beacons; when the hymns fall silent, our heartbeats are the drums of resistance; when the codes burn, our blood and bones are the final decree.

The ships traversing the raging sea of stars will transmit the vibrations of their engines along the astral veins; the navigational beacons I personally calibrated, each one bears the traces of humanity within the Warp storms.

We may face a long, dark journey, but remember—all the breadcrumbs passed through the darkness will eventually connect to form the Milky Way leading to dawn. When you hear the trembling of gears resonating with poetry in the void, when you see blue-silver light from beyond the clouds seeping into the crimson sky, that is me saying: Persevere, persevere as if piercing the eyes of chaos.

As long as I persist, I will reach my destination.

—Gu Hang, High Lord of the Empire and Leader of the Alliance

…

This “Letter to My Compatriots in Disaster” is like dropping a large stone on a calm… er, on an already turbulent lake.

Compared to the Alliance’s cautious Dark Side expedition, Gu Hang’s letter was far more radical.

His psychic powers instantly connected to the communication signals emanating from hundreds of thousands of worlds on the Empire’s Dark Side.

Thus, the “Letter to Fellow Disaster-stricken Worlds” instantly reached nearly every world on the Empire’s Dark Side.

Everyone saw that it was unrealistic, but over the past few months, those powerful individuals capable of sending interplanetary communication requests likely saw it.

Under normal circumstances, this would have caused a massive backlash, connecting countless worlds, colliding countless ideas and thoughts, and likely forming an anti-Alliance coalition.

Who are you? You want to be the boss?

Gu Hang certainly held a certain reputation within the Empire, and he possessed considerable strength, but it was definitely not enough to make him the overlord of half the Empire.

Far from it.

However, these were not “normal circumstances.”

Take the first phase of the Alliance’s Dark Side expedition, the Magre Sector, for example. This region, encompassing eight star regions and over five thousand worlds, remains largely isolated. The largest region, at most, has only thirty-seven worlds, with navigation links established around the Sector Government.

Even excluding navigation and focusing solely on communications, the Sector Government has only reestablished contact with 136 worlds.

Compared to the entire Sector, a mere five thousand worlds, this is a remarkably small number.

What can this network achieve?

Compared to the Alliance, which has long since consolidated into a single entity, the discontent of those powerful individuals is insurmountable. Once the Alliance arrives, they will be defeated piecemeal.

And their attempt to refute Gu Hang’s letter… logically seems unlikely.

Beyond the rhetoric, the core content of this letter is that Gu Hang, in his dual capacity as High Lord and Alliance leader, has established the so-called “Imperial Dark Side Control Council,” declaring supreme authority until the Scarlet Scar severs the Dark Side’s connection with Holy Terra.

What this means is that I am the supreme authority of the Dark Side of the Empire. I have the final say over the entire Dark Side.

The Alliance fleets en route, as claimed in the letter, can be understood as coming to save the world, but they can also be understood as ruling by force.

Power, in essence, is a matter of name and reality.

Gu Hang’s declaration may seem shocking, but in reality, upon closer examination, there’s really no significant problem in either regard.

In name, it’s important to note that the Supreme Council, both nominally and in reality, is the Empire’s greatest and most powerful authority.

What is the Supreme Council? Thirteen High Lords.

And on the Dark Side of the Empire, there’s currently only one High Lord, Gu Hang.

The other High Lords are isolated on Sacred Terra, on the other side of the Scarlet Scar.

Only this special High Lord, Gu Hang, remains on this side.

Regardless of how Gu Hang came to be known as High Lord, or whether he truly possessed the power of a High Lord in the past, in name only, if there is truly a legitimate supreme ruler of the Dark Side of the Empire, it’s Gu Hang.

Judging from its strength, the Alliance not only achieved unification amidst this darkness and catastrophe, but also had the resources to protect and rescue other worlds—even if some might interpret this as an invasion. Their ability to rescue and launch expeditions to the outside world, even when others were struggling, demonstrates their immense strength.

From both perspectives, Gu Hang truly possesses the title of Supreme Ruler of the Dark Side and possesses the power to achieve this goal, while others are powerless to resist.

Of course, while this alone is sufficient, it might still fall short.

Once the title is established, it remains to be seen whether the actions taken are truly justified.

Otherwise, being labeled a “tyrant” or “despot” would be inconvenient.

Since Gu Hang claims to be the ruler of the Empire’s Dark Side, his legitimacy stems from his status as the sole High Lord; his stated goal is to save all the worlds of the Empire’s Dark Side. Whether this sounds reasonable warrants further investigation. After all, many ambitious individuals use this title to stir up trouble.

So, is the existence of such a supreme authority truly necessary?

Indeed, it is.

During a catastrophe, all worlds are isolated, and internal disasters become even more severe. If someone could step forward and truly restore normalcy to each world, wouldn’t that be incredibly just and legitimate?

As long as Gu Hang carries this goal, then whether his methods involve persuasion, rescue, coercion, or even military invasion, the disaster facing each world is real. If he can quell the disaster, his status as High Lord will garner immense support across the worlds. The existing ruling class will either cooperate or be purged. Those with ulterior motives would find it difficult to rally the vast majority of the Empire’s people to rebel against the Alliance’s rule.

Nationalism is useless. In the current climate of the Empire, the very concept of “nation” has long since dissipated. What truly unites humanity is the shared concept of humanity, and the “Emperor” and “Empire” that represent it.

There was some sense of territory, but not much, at least not enough to mobilize an entire world against a single superpower.

As for all that nonsense about equality, freedom, and fairness, it was meaningless in the context of the Empire. The people simply didn’t believe in it, or even understand it.

Furthermore, under the Alliance’s system, the planetary dignitaries, whose ruling bases and ruling classes were far less developed than the Alliance’s, would be courting disaster by competing with the Alliance.

In such a climate, there were many intelligent people.

Under normal circumstances, those who would have jumped to oppose Gu Hang upon hearing such presumptuous claims, but after considering the various factors involved, they made potentially diametrically opposed choices.

Some local dignitaries sent signals praising Gu Hang as a savior, praising his actions for turning the tide and showering him with praise.

Some planetary governors simply continued with the previous distress signal format, sending a message that the entire planet was willing to obey the Control Council, while also signaling that their own planets were facing a massive disaster and pleading for the Alliance fleet to arrive as soon as possible to save their world.

Some remnants of the Astra Militarum replaced their recruitment advertisements with Gu Hang’s “Letter to Our Compatriots in Disaster” and displayed countless banners, each one emphasizing “Obey the Committee’s Directives.”

This was a positive development, something Gu Hang had hoped for.

However, there were also negative developments.

Some, whether foolish, ambitious, or pedantic, would issue messages refusing to recognize the Control Committee, even radically declaring that Gu Hang was exploiting the nation’s peril, the greatest traitor in a thousand years, a thief of the nation.

Gu Hang silently memorized all these worlds and sent them to Darkside Expeditionary Headquarters. The list contained no recommendations for action, but the commanders, generals, and commanders of the various units of the expeditionary force would undoubtedly know what to do.

But this world isn’t black and white.

The gray in between constitutes the vast majority.

There was an Imperial Navy fleet called the Black Steel Fleet, once pirates who had been incorporated. By now, they had unexpectedly mastered some primitive methods of interstellar navigation with remarkable speed, returning to their old ways. They had also hijacked three communication relay stations and, using Gu Hang’s voice data, extorted a “loyalty tax” from several surrounding worlds. Planets, either unaware of the situation or coerced by force, were actually paying tribute.

An Imperial Chamber of Commerce mass-produced forged commission cooperation certificates, extorting exorbitant prices and profiting from the national crisis. They even peddled “Gu Hang concept stocks” on the interstellar exchange.

Governors of agricultural worlds disguised granaries as signal stations, luring nearby contactees ashore and attacking ships…

There were even crazed religious worlds, spawning deconstructionist sects. They rewrote the entire “Message to Our Fellow Disaster Compatriots” with virgin blood, claiming it was an extension of the “Emperor’s Divine Word,” but in reality, they were exploiting this to vie for the interpretation of divine authority.

These gray, and even black, elements simply didn’t care whether Gu Hang was a savior or a usurper; they cared only about maximizing their own interests in the current climate.

Those flickering distress signals, forged oaths of loyalty, and twisted religious interpretations all seemed to bear witness to an age-old truth: even under the pressure of apocalypse, countless people cared nothing for lofty ideals or the greater good. Unfettered by the constraints of order, the selfish, bestial side of human nature was unleashed with even greater force.

Beyond the reactions of individual worlds, even enemies of humanity were mingled.

The Dark Eldar tampered with Gu Hang’s “Message to Fellow Compatriots in Disaster,” claiming it was a revised version, deceiving the defenders and invading certain worlds.

A Tzeentchian Chaos rebellion, emerging from the Scarlet Scar, sent forged extermination orders stamped with authentic ciphertext to border outposts, causing them to self-destruct their defenses in fear.

Day by day, such incidents unfolded one after another,

a veritable riot of demons.

Even from the Warp, Gu Hang couldn’t clearly see many of the events unfolding. Those of his Heroic Spirits skilled in information statistics were working themselves to the bone, busier than at their peak, but they couldn’t keep up with the myriad events unfolding across hundreds of thousands of worlds.

Gu Hang could only pick out the important ones and deal with them.

The only way to deal with them was to deliver the correct information, give positive encouragement, and encourage those planets to persevere in the face of countless difficulties.

The “Letter to Fellow Citizens in Disaster” did cause some chaos, but these were all within Gu Hang’s expectations.

It’s not that Gu Hang ignored these costs, but that even if there were no such thing, those who fish in troubled waters, ambitious people, and enemies of mankind would find other ways to seek benefits.

The positive significance of this announcement is still greater than the negative.

It truly gives hope to many worlds in difficulties. Moreover, some gathered collective will is forging the text of the announcement into a spiritual anchor. It’s not much, but it has indeed reduced the erosion of the subspace.

That’s enough.

As for the real problem, we’ll wait for the Alliance’s Dark Side Expedition to sweep away all those demons and monsters with thunder and storm!

(End of this chapter)