The Vanduul Attack on Vega - Summary and Thoughts

[wfja]

With CitizenCon inbound, it seems that CIG's writing staff has decided to engage the community with a bulletin update. For those that don't know, the frontier star system of Vega has been attacked by the Vanduul. The Empire Report released the information two days ago saying that there is "a large-scale Vanduul incursion into the Vega System directly above Vega II," engaged by the UEE border fleet. Aremis (Vega II) is a well developed and populated frontier colony on the extreme edge of UEE space, bordering Vanduul territory. Since the destruction of Armitage, fearful emigrants have caused Vega to become a low-cost system for those who do not fear the alien threat. 

A day later, a news report titled "New Corvo in Ruins" was released by a private citizen detailing the attack from a personal perspective. It contains several details of note.

• mobiGlas and civil defence sirens notified the general populace less than 30 seconds before the assault.
• Immediate and extensive destruction to the city of Corvo infers the use of powerful ordinance (probably not WMD's due to the lack of total obliteration).
• Vanduul assaults occurred all over Aremis.
• Combat responses included a combination of law enforcement and private citizens battling in the air and on ground.
• A local hauler that landed on Aremis shortly before the attack indicated that the 2nd Fleet (commanded by Admiral Ernst Bishop) had gathered near the Vega-Tiber jump point in numbers abnormal to border drills, inferring some kind of prior knowledge of the Vanduul incursion.
• In less than a day (where insufficient time descriptions from the article leads the exact elapsed time to be uncertain), the Vanduul were driven off by Admiral Bishop, now dubbed the "Hero of Vega."
• Vast swaths of destruction was inflicted on the planet, presumably including comprehensive damage to planet infrastructure and high death counts.

The in-fiction author, Sean Nazawa, speaks as if current rhetoric is spinning Admiral Bishop (and, by extension, the UEE) as the system's saviour, while Nazawa infers that much more could have been done. 

Aremis was on the verge of becoming a represented planet of the UEE, which would practically guarantee it military protection. All this is happening concurrently with the culmination of the Polo Initiative, with campaigning and political input wrapping up. If passed, the Polo Initiative will cut military spending by 10% to bring its egregious spending into line. Recent polling suggests a large portion of voters are undecided, and advocates for economic stability and military development are at odds. 

Remember that the Star Citizen universe is supposed to mirror the fall of the Roman Empire. The Vanduul are knocking at the gates of the UEE, while monetary reserves are decimated again and again from a too-stretched government (with notable drains being the military and the apparently failed SynthWorld project). The Empire is reaching a breaking point, and this Vanduul assault on Vega could be the beginning of the end.

Or not.

This is what we know to date. For those of you interested, the Star Citizen subreddit has responded to these spectrum dispatches with panache, and users have posted their own lore in response. I recommend reading "Encrypted Message Received - Outlaw Strike," "Citizens, I implore you to wake up," and "The Fall of the UEE," all welcome changes from the subreddit's recent explosion of drama.

In particular, /u/ErZ101 points out that the 29 million stretch goal promised enhancements to SQ42, including "opening with an epic battle instead of a training patrol." Further, a transcript of a SQ42 script page shown in a related stretch goal video indicates that a battle will occur above Vega II, all of which makes it a strong possibility that this is a canonical in-fiction build-up to a SQ42 reveal. After all, it's extremely likely that the Vanduul will return for another encounter, especially since the Vega system borders Vanduul and UEE territory.  Given that this is all happening the week before CitCon, which has already been said to be featuring SQ42, there's a high chance that a big announcement, reveal, or lore dump is in the offing.

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The recent spout of meta-drama, coupled with concerns from certain parts of the SC community, has already made it essential for CIG to hit CitCon out of the park. Now, these spectrum dispatches are making me believe that that's exactly what they'll do. What do you guys think?

[Puls0nic]

Excellent....

*Taps fingers

Excellent!

This is exciting stuff. Didn't pick up on some of the points, so although I'm careful not to get too hyped, I'm REALLY looking forward to this.

[CC-Corp]

They decently put a lot of work in to there stories, the admiral Ernst bishop I read after the battle was not happy, be interesting to see why.

[Aglanor]

I think SQ42 is going to be a very enjoyable experience and that likely we're going to get information about it very soon. This will be a good thing both in terms of promoting interest in the game, and dispelling the irrational media campaign.

[Minted]

I think SQ42 is going to be a very enjoyable experience and that likely we're going to get information about it very soon. This will be a good thing both in terms of promoting interest in the game, and dispelling the irrational media campaign.

I'm expecting SQ42 to play out like good film with a rich and compelling storyline. From the feedback out of CIG they might be using Mass Effect as an inspiration for certain aspects. One thing Mass Effect did well was engage you with the story and characters.

[Xeen]

3 days to go

[Fizzlefuse]

I'm really enjoying these lore bits, they really give us a clear perspective on how much of a threat these vanduul really are.

Im really curious about the Vanduul themselves
Other then just aggressive aliens that shoot stuff I want to know more about their culture and their social structure. From what I've read so far the Vanduul are cut into different clans or tribes of sorts though they do intermingle with other clans as was found in their DNA. When the UEE found X12 it showed that all the vanduul on board were male. Where are the females? Do the Vanduul have a home planet? Attacks like these on Vega either show multiple clans working together for resources/territory or perhaps a single massive clan? 

What is with the significance of blades within their culture? What is their language like? their beliefs? Do they have a code of honour?

Know your enemy. I'm just dying to find out more. I hope we get more insight into the Vanduul in SQ42. 

[Gnutt Arkonikus]

I'm really enjoying these lore bits, they really give us a clear perspective on how much of a threat these vanduul really are.

Im really curious about the Vanduul themselves
Other then just aggressive aliens that shoot stuff I want to know more about their culture and their social structure. From what I've read so far the Vanduul are cut into different clans or tribes of sorts though they do intermingle with other clans as was found in their DNA. When the UEE found X12 it showed that all the vanduul on board were male. Where are the females? Do the Vanduul have a home planet? Attacks like these on Vega either show multiple clans working together for resources/territory or perhaps a single massive clan? 

What is with the significance of blades within their culture? What is their language like? their beliefs? Do they have a code of honour?

Know your enemy. I'm just dying to find out more. I hope we get more insight into the Vanduul in SQ42. 

Yes ,Iam also very interested to know the enemy, for me personaly, Vanduuls are in some way similar whit Orks from Warhammer 40.000! They are very agresive, they are raiders looting almoust awereting and above all they like to fight so probably they have some warrior code of honor (I speek about Vanduuls, they maybe have some sence of honor etc ,Orks are just crazy looters).

Also I think that Vanduuls are pushed or manipulated to attack us by some misterious alien race, who knows maybe they (the Vanduul ) are actualy infested by some parasitic aliens who force them to be very agresive and beasty ,hmm this is just my thoughts .

[Minted]

I'm really enjoying these lore bits, they really give us a clear perspective on how much of a threat these vanduul really are.

Im really curious about the Vanduul themselves
Other then just aggressive aliens that shoot stuff I want to know more about their culture and their social structure. From what I've read so far the Vanduul are cut into different clans or tribes of sorts though they do intermingle with other clans as was found in their DNA. When the UEE found X12 it showed that all the vanduul on board were male. Where are the females? Do the Vanduul have a home planet? Attacks like these on Vega either show multiple clans working together for resources/territory or perhaps a single massive clan? 

What is with the significance of blades within their culture? What is their language like? their beliefs? Do they have a code of honour?

Know your enemy. I'm just dying to find out more. I hope we get more insight into the Vanduul in SQ42. 

Its very interesting just now reading peoples responses on reddit for example. They emulate exactly how Humans react in the real world to situations like this. A mixture of hate towards the Vanduul/absolute support for the UEE through to disbelief of the attack/distrust for the UEE.

These "real" players role playing responses could in theory drive the direction of future lore.

[wfja]

Its very interesting just now reading peoples responses on reddit for example. They emulate exactly how Humans react in the real world to situations like this. A mixture of hate towards the Vanduul/absolute support for the UEE through to disbelief of the attack/distrust for the UEE.

These "real" players role playing responses could in theory drive the direction of future lore.

From what I understand, that's exactly what the writers and lore masters at CIG want. They want the players to decide the fate of the UEE. What will be interesting is how they implement player choice. Will they be watching reddit, or will they implement more voting polls? Or will it exclusively depend on in-game activities and pass/fail public events?

Hmmm...

[VoA]

Yes ,Iam also very interested to know the enemy, ...

There has been some recent reveals by David Hadock and the other writers (and stuff we have known from before).  As far as we know the Vanduul don't have a defined "home-world."  Obviously they originated from a planet but the UEE doesn't know if they destroyed it themselves, if they were driven from it, etc... and we don't know what system it was located in.  We do know they are clan based.   I don't think the UEE can fight a conventional war against the Vanduul and go after a rich target to win the day.  It will be more of a guerrilla type of battle with long protracted drawn out fights.  We do know they can muster many clans (maybe like Genghis Khan did with the Mongols or we can take the more historic definable references of the Vandals vs the Roman Empire = which we know CR is drawing reference to).... and we do know they will sack Earth and that Terra will eventually become humanities new capital (this epic saga set forth by CR hasn't changed since the kick-starter presentation).

[SDevoti]

I think, IMO, this was designed and accomplished what it set out to do. It woke a bunch of people up and got them ready for this weekend. Great lore addition and an even better marketing tool. Kudos CIG.

[Jon1812]

I love it! This is going to spark some heated debate both within the Senate and among the citizens! Did the military sacrifice Vega to defeat the Polo initiative? Can we trust our military to keep us safe? Do we need new leadership? This is gonna be good!

[Donut]

I love the lore. However I don't think people should get wrapped up in fan fiction. Just like the Star Wars novels, the movies aren't even going to follow the story from the books. It might be nice to create an archive of official lore here in SCB and an archive of fan fiction, that way we can compare the two for similarities. 

[FoxChard]

I hope this storyline is culminated by them beginning CitCon with a game trailer for SQ42

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