Driven by fear of this battle station, known only as Mercy, nearly every major faction in known space has called up armies and fleets to descend on Chiss space. It did not matter if the faction's territory was half a galaxy distant. It did not even matter if, as in the case of the New Imperial Order, the faction was actively at war with the Chiss Ascendancy over territory. The planet killer evoked such horror that all other concerns were put aside; war creates strange bedfellows indeed. Yet not all of those flocking to the brewing battle did so to oppose the Maw; marauding Sith, drawn to the darkness and destruction, swelled the Brotherhood's ranks. Rumor has it that even the terrifying Carnifex has come to drink his fill.
And so the Brotherhood's surgical strike, initially intended simply to scatter the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet and leave the Ascendancy's territory open to looting and conquest, is instead shaping up to be one of the most epic confrontations since the end of the 400-year darkness. In the eyes of the Maw's marauders, and in the sermons of the Heathen Priests, this is exactly as it should be. By gathering all of the forces sworn to the old cycle, bound by the petty constraints of morality and determined to preserve the decrepit, decaying status quo, the Brotherhood can fall upon them all at once. They believe they can smash through this Army of Light like a sledgehammer through rotten wood, and the galaxy shall burn.
Madmen and zealots, they do not fear the massive numbers arrayed against them. History shall soon record whether this was justified bravado... or utter folly.
