| “ | A desert planet prone to unpredictable and dangerous sand twisters. | „ |
| ~ Official Description |
Erata Prime is one of the four planets that reside within the Umlaut Sector. Its general landscape consists of barren deserts and exhausting heat.
On February 16, 2185, it became the second planet in which the Predator Strain of bugs would surface just moments after their defeat at neighboring Fenrir III.
Topography and Astrography[]
A pair of Super Destroyers in orbit over Erata Prime.
Erata Prime is the hottest survivable planet in the Umlaut Sector. The terrain alternates between vast stretches of sand and rocks. Most local flora comes in the form of dry grasses and prickly, unpleasant bushes. The planet's tectonic plates are very active, which makes the planet experience constant tremors that will make movement difficult. However, during Terminid invasions, it has been noted that these tremors also seem to negatively impact their vestibular system and makes them unable to move for the duration of these, which might prove helpful during combat.
The intense heat on this planet makes laser weaponry unadvisable, as their heat sinks will accumulate heat at a faster rate than usual and cool off slower than in other planets. Additionally, the heat will cause a faster stamina drain while sprinting, which will heavily punish personnel equipped with heavy armor.
Erata Prime houses 3 Mega Cities. They are organized by tier below, but keep in mind that Mega City tiers have no effect on level generation and only determine the city's health pool in the Galactic Map.
- Pham's Site (Tier 1 - Settlement)
- Old Chemland (Tier 2 - Town)
- New Da Nang (Tier 2 - Town)
Erata Prime, as its latin namesake would suggest, is the closest planet to its star in the eponymous system. Alongside Erata Prime and its moon, the Erata System is comprised of at least 3 other astronomical bodies, which are a volcanic planet, an unknown rocky planet and a gas giant with a ring system. The Erata System, following the activation of the Terminid Control System, was one of the 4 Barrier Planets and would mark the easternmost point of the Terminid Front, as the Terminids in the Orion Sector had been culled prior. Following the collapse of the Terminid Control System and the Meridian Supercolony crisis, Erata then became a crucial frontline planet against the Terminids, as the Helldivers required its availability to access Hellmire and the Falstaff Sector.
With the apparition of the Gloom after the destruction of Meridia, Erata Prime then became one of many Gloom-adjacent worlds that served as the vanguard against this new mysterious fascist nebula, usually being the first planet to suffer whatever sick machinations the Terminids gestated within the Gloom. This role only further cemented itself once the 
Centre of Science was built on neighboring Fenrir III, with Erata Prime now becoming a critical flank through which the Terminids can always attack this facility should the planet fail to be defended, with the 
Meridian Singularity crisis and the resurgence of the 
Illuminate and their subsequent blitz of the Altus Sector being one of many examples on how the loss of Erata Prime is the first step to the loss of many sectors.
History[]
Special Military Operations[]
Erata Prime was, up until February 2184, a peaceful planet colony of Super Earth in the Eastern Galactic Rim. Having been settled during the Great Expansion Era after the end of he First Galactic War by citizens of Sector 1 Ancestry, Erata's first colonists would come to eventually master their arid environment and, as the generations passed, built the settlements that would later become the cities of Old Chemland, Pham's Site and New Da Nang. Erata Prime would be overrun by the Terminids at the start of the engagements that preceded the Second Galactic War. Thankfully for democracy, the liberation of Veld in March 2184 gave the Helldivers access to the FTL lines past Heeth, allowing them to begin liberating Erata from the tyrannical bugs.
Deployment of the Terminid Control System[]
Erata Prime, alongside the rest of the planets in the Umlaut Sector, was selected for deployment a new type of containment measure against the bugs: the Terminid Control System. The TCS was a complex of chemical dispersion towers that were designed to spread the newly-made Termicide, an anti-fascist neurotoxin that could kill off the invading insects without damaging the rest of the planet's biomass.
After the planet was liberated and the deployment of the TCS System was completed, Erata Prime would remain firmly under Super Earth's stewardship with little incident, allowing the Helldivers to refocus their efforts on the Automaton Front.
Failure of the Terminid Control System[]
Unfortunately, the Terminids didn't allow that peace to last. Shortly after the start of the Automaton Reclamation of Cyberstan, the TCS failed. Not only had the Termicide become ineffective against the bugs, it was also causing them to mutate, allowing the Terminids on the Barrier Planets to reproduce up to 20 times faster than usual. Before the SEAF could react, the neighboring planet Meridia was overrun and turned into a Terminid Supercolony. Luckily, the Helldivers' swift deactivation of the TCS prevented Erata Prime, and the other planets in the Umlaut System, from a similar fate.
Second Galactic War[]
From the moment the TCS failed, all planets close to Meridia began to face ceaseless assaults by the alien menace throughout the months of April and May 2184. For several weeks, Erata Prime endured the horrors of the tragedy brought on by the insectoid scourge, while Super Earth High Command valiantly scrambled for a solution to its quarrels.
Finally, after the declaration of the Galactic War on Tyranny, Super Earth's leaders began to commission the Ministry of Science to manufacture a new type of super-weapon in order to destroy Meridia. After some weeks of research, scientists at Moradesh managed to produce vast quantities of Dark Fluid, a weapon of planetary destruction seized from the Illuminate at the end of the First Galactic War.
Operation Enduring Peace[]
On May 28, 2184, Super Earth High Command gave the order to destroy Meridia, first by liberating all planets that could connect Moradesh to Meridia and then, from May 29 to May 30, deploying the Dark Fluid directly onto Meridia's surface. By the afternoon of May 30, enough Dark Fluid had accumulated in Meridia to reach critical mass and, subsequently, collapse the Supercolony into a black hole. This heroic act siphoned away all of the mutated spores that the Supercolony was emitting, effectively crippling the Terminid advance to a halt.
Operation Destiny Manifested[]
Immediately after Operation Enduring Peace, orders were given out for the SEAF to retake all of the planets that had been initially assaulted by the Terminids due to the Supercolony's augmentative effect. These planets included Acamar IV, Turing, Phact Bay and Erata Prime. Judicious deployment of the Helldivers was instrumental in the operation's success, which allowed Super Earth citizens to finally reclaim the homes they had been forced to abandon.
Interim prior to Operation Prometheus[]
However, the citizens of Erata Prime would not be able to fully resettle their sufficient sized homes in peace. Even with all the victories of Super Earth at both the Terminid and Automaton fronts, Erata Prime would still be attacked by Terminids and fall to their control for a short period of time, but would be liberated shortly after, as the Terminids still were battered from the loss of the Supercolony.
Operation Prometheus[]
However, Erata Prime wouldn't remain free for long. With the apparition of the Gloom in early August 2184, Terminid offensives surged as the fascist nebula expanded without control. Erata Prime would be attacked in two occasions after the apparition of the Gloom, once on August 14th and once on August 27th, with both attacks being successfully repelled and serving to stop the growth of the Gloom beyond the barrier planets.
Operation Courageous Exodus[]
Following its final defense on August 27th, Erata Prime wouldn't see much more combat, as the Terminids would turn their focus farther south towards the Jin Xi Sector. From August to November, Erata Prime spent its time rebuilding and fortifying, as it was still laying right at the edge of the Gloom. However, once the Terminid Research Preserve was completed and defended, the Terminids began to shift their focus once more. On November 5th, amidst a spore surge originated in the Gloom a week prior, Erata Prime would be attacked in tandem with Estanu and Fenrir III. However, with the intensity of the attacks, the Helldivers weren't able to safeguard all 3 fronts. After the defense of Fenrir III, Estanu was given priority in its defense over Erata, as its proximity to Crimsica and the Terminid Research Preserve made it too risky to lose.
This would result in Erata Prime having to be abandoned and lost to the Terminids on November 6th, its colonists having to relocate to Cirrus for immediate transfer to the Democracy Space Station.
However, hope was not lost for Erata Prime. Once the Terminids were repelled in Crimsica, the intensity of Terminid assaults decreased, freeing up certain helldivers to help with the planet's liberation. However, the Terminids displayed horrendous ferocity and resistance, which meant that little progress would be achieved until, on November 9th, the last Terminid assault was repelled on Bore Rock, which left the Terminid hatcheries depleted and left Erata Prime in a more manageable state.
Given Erata Prime's past history in the Barrier Planets, Erata Prime was pretty much unanimously picked as a primary liberation target and, from November 8th to November 10th, the Helldivers would tirelessly fight to liberate it, successfully dislodging the Terminids of its surface by the late evening of November 10th.
Operation Wormhole Spaghetti[]
Erata Prime would remain untouched after its liberation in November. However, it would barely spend a month free before being captured by the Terminids on December 21st, amidst both a Terminid offensive and the return of the Illuminate to the galaxy, which triggered a crisis on the southern sectors. Yet despite this, it would seem that Erata Prime would be on a streak of good luck as, during its defense, Super Earth High Command issued a major order calling for both Erata Prime and Fenrir III to be controlled for the following 3 days, guaranteeing the availability of the Helldivers for its liberation.
Operation Farsight Breach[]
Erata Prime would spend the rest of 2184 in freedom, as the Terminids were temporarily turned away. But, as 2185 began to roll in, the SEAF began to crack as it struggled to coordinate its forces between the now three fronts. It wouldn't be until January 2185 that the Terminids took advantage in full of this situation. Aided by a burst of Gloom spores, the Terminids initiated an offensive onto the Farsight Sector. Amidst this offensive, the Terminids also initiated a secondary assault onto Erata Prime in tandem with one at Polaris Prime. Given Polaris Prime's status as a Major Order objective, most helldivers would neglect Erata Prime's defense, which led to its fall on January 12th.
Operation Impending Gloom[]
Erata Prime remained under Terminid control since its fall, as the Helldivers would be pushed all the way to Cirrus during the battle. However, not all was lost for Erata Prime since, soon after the reactivation of the Democracy Space Station, the Helldivers would receive new orders to gather samples from Gloom-adjacent planets Gacrux and Erata Prime. Given Erata's climate and its history during the first year of the conflict, the main fleet of the Helldiver Corps and the Democracy Space Station immediately moved to aid the liberation campaign at Erata Prime. However, the Terminids would dramatically increase their reproduction rate on the target planets, which considerably increased enemy resistance.
Operation Emperor's New Brood[]
Following the campaign to collect samples from Erata Prime, the planet would unfortunately remain under Terminid Control with enemy resistance proving too tall for the Helldivers to break through in time. The Corps would constantly be pulled away to other priorities, primarily containing the Illuminate's movement of the Meridian Singularity which had now destroyed one planet already, Angel's Venture.
With the SEAF mired in a crisis of sorts, the Terminids at the Gloom-infected Hellmire wouldn't waste the opportunity to cause further strife. On February 15, a new Predator Strain of Terminids emerged from the Gloom and landed on Erata's neighbor, Fenrir III. The massive attack on the planet's Centre of Science spelled direct trouble for Super Earth's ability to properly research methods of combating the destructive Singularity. High Command immediately issued an Order for all Helldivers to defend Fenrir III and halt the advance of Super Earth's new, extremely dangerous foe.
After 35 hours of grueling defense which tested the Helldivers' in-battle awareness against the mutated, agile, and vile Predator Strain, the Helldivers rebuffed the massive offensive on Fenrir. The Helldivers would rejoice briefly... only for the same Strain to then somehow resurface on Erata Prime in massive numbers, drastically increasing the resistance rate while most Helldivers from Fenrir's defense deployed to Erata's surface.
Yet, the fight for Erata Prime was ruthless and brutal. The Terminids of the 
Predator Strain put up a despicable resistance, making the campaign to liberate Erata Prime slow and grueling. However, now that they had earned valuable experience against these new enemies, the Predator Hunters and Stalkers would be no match. After an additional 48 hours, Erata Prime would be liberated and the Predator Strain driven back into the Gloom, securing the Umlaut Sector once more and safeguarding the Centre of Science and its critical research once more.
Operation Vermintide[]
Erata Prime, and the Umlaut Sector, remained unbothered after their prior encounter with the Predator Strain. However, this respite would be short-lived. Following the success of Operation Niflheim at Nivel 43, multiple Gloom-adjacent planets would be attacked by a surge of mutated Terminids, many of which aligned with the descriptions of the Predator Strain. Erata Prime, along with Fenrir III, would see its own outbreak of this nefarious fascist plague on April 18th. However, the Helldivers would soon come to Erata Prime's rescue from an unexpected angle. With the Terminid broods at Bore Rock having been depleted in their dual attacks against both Terrek and Erata Prime, the Helldivers immediately moved the majority of the Super Destroyer Fleet and the 
Democracy Space Station right onto Bore Rock's orbit, in hopes of capturing the planet and stopping the 2 assaults on their tracks.
In a masterful maneuver, the Helldivers would wind up crushing the assaults at Erata Prime and Terrek once Bore Rock was captured and severely hampering the Terminid offensive. However, that was not the end of the story for Erata Prime. Following another successful double gambit at Acamar IV, the Terminids would send one final assault at Erata Prime once more on April 19th. Yet, the horde's efforts would prove futile, as the Helldivers successfully repelled the onslaught and crushed the Terminid offensive for good.
Operation Omens Undone[]
Erata's back-to-back successful defense would put all of its many citizens at ease. The cost of both attacks was immense, with significant damage to infrastructure and loss of life. Yet, it seemed that Erata would move forward with newfound hope and gusto, seemingly joyful and confident in the wake of the Helldivers' great victory.
Following the brilliant Helldiver efforts to contain the 
Terminids, attention would shift back to a different, yet highly threatening foe. The Illuminate, discontent with their Meridian Singularity plan beginning to falter, would launch a dual attack on the Repulsive Gravity Field Generator and the Centre of Science in a last-ditch attempt to save their plot of carnage. High Command would immediately order the 
Helldivers to stage a defense, informing them that further attacks on critical infrastructure were likely.
By the end of the operation, the Helldivers were successful in repelling the Illuminate incursions, while also securing Pilen V. Yet, the Illuminate would remain undeterred by this defeat and would continue to launch more last-ditch attacks across the Federation. By April 28th, these attacks would strangely reach Erata Prime- a planet with little strategic interest in this case. Luckily, with many Helldivers available following the liberation of Turing, the Illuminate attack on Erata would be comfortably dealt with, sending the raid party on the run once again.
Operation Ashes of Remembrance[]
For nearly 3 months, Erata would finally be free of any alien invaders arriving on its surface. The planet that had seen so much bloodshed had finally found a semblance of peace amongst all the violence of the Second Galactic War. With plenty of time to rebuild the many colonies and towns across its desert, joy and prosperity were in abundance across the blazing planet. Of course, as in many cases during this brutal War, peace is never everlasting.
By the afternoon of July 8th, the Helldivers, under no Orders from High Command, would be focused on repelling an Illuminate invasion of Afoyay Bay as part of the Squ'ith's campaign to capture planets and expand their territory in the Galactic South. However, a sudden, unprovoked, massive outbreak of 15 million Terminids would soon erupt across the surface of Erata Prime, and for the first time in the planet's history, alien invaders would reach their massive sprawling town of Old Chemland.
With this sudden development, High Command would issue a new operation, stating that the rebuild of Remembrance was finally underway after all the damage caused by the Illuminate invasion of Super Earth. In order to finally actualize this rebuild, further war reparations were owed by both the Illuminate and the abetting Terminids. As such, in a multi-component operation until July 14th, the Helldivers were instructed to hold Erata against any Terminid attacks, liberate both Veld and Slif from the claws of the bugs, and hold New Stockholm and Valmox from Illuminate invaders.
With many objectives to be completed, the Helldivers had to quickly figure out where to make their stand. Though Erata was a major target of the Operation, the ongoing Illuminate attack on Afoyay Bay would put the Squ'ith on the doorstep of the highly populated Valmox if the Illuminate were to capture the Bay. As such, a fraction of Helldivers would remain on Afoyay while the rest of the main Helldiver fleet would deploy to Erata to repel the Terminids from the planet and its massive sprawling towns.
For much of the race, the Terminids would hold multiple positions across Erata and established a hold within Old Chemland, one of Erata's 3 major population centers. The Helldivers would keep the race close, yet time was ticking for the Corps to fully repel the massive Terminid attack. Luckily for Erata, it would be Old Chemland that would pave the way for the blazing planet's salvation.
Many Helldivers had deployed to Old Chemland during the initial stages of the attack on Erata, knowing that securing the vital town would grant them a significant boost to repel the invading Terminids. As such, with just about 10 hours left to stop the vicious bugs, the Battle of Old Chemland had concluded with a major Helldiver victory as they had fully secured the city and cleansed it of any Terminid presence. As such, capturing the town granted a major boost to the Helldivers' defense progress and overall on-field capabilities. Now, the entire tide of the battle had turned in the Helldivers' favor, and the bugs were now on the brink of being repelled.
Sure enough, 3 hours later, the Helldivers had fully repelled the Terminids on Erata Prime before turning back to Afoyay Bay and successfully repelling the Illuminate invasion of the planet shortly after. These two major victories would set the Helldivers on a much-needed positive beginning to the operation, with freedom secured on Erata for now.
Operation Ultrakill (Aug. 19, 2185)[]
The exceptional double defense of Erata Prime and Afoyay Bay by July 9 would pave the way for the success of Operation Ashes of Remembrance. By the end of the Order, the Helldivers liberated Veld, Slif, and New Stockholm from the Terminids and Illuminate, and would face no further attacks on Erata's surface with the bugs soundly repelled. Though Afoyay Bay had eventually fallen to the Illuminate on July 13, the initial victory on the planet a few days prior ensured that the Squ'ith would not be able to reach Valmox before the end of the operation, further aiding a well-earned victory for the Helldivers.
Erata would go on undisturbed for the next month, watching on as the Terminids launched failed offensives elsewhere on Turing, Achernar Secundus, and Acamar IV, though Crimsica and Gar Haren would fall. By August 13, the Helldivers would be ordered to liberate Erata's infested neighbor, Bore Rock, whilst also completing a handful of other objectives to secure the construction of the second Tyranny Park. With the operation at its tail end, the Helldivers had managed an excellent counteroffensive that had granted them control of not only Bore Rock but also Pandion-XXIV, Crimsica, and eventually Gacrux a few hours post-operation. Additionally, another massive outbreak on Acamar IV was also repelled, showing just how ineffective the Terminid plague is against the might of liberty.
Unfortunately, with just how successful the Helldivers were during Operation Lost World, it seems that the Terminids were highly discontent at how utterly pathetic their attempts at fascism were. In the early afternoon of August 19, with the liberation campaign of Gacrux on the verge of completion, the bugs at the Gloom-infested Hellmire would once again attempt a vicious, brutal assault on Erata Prime with a force of 30 million broods erupting across its surface. The Helldivers would begin to flock toward the planet with Gacrux virtually liberated, but that wouldn't be the end of the fascist infestation. An hour after the attack on Erata began, a massive outbreak of 36 million broods on its neighbor, Fenrir III and its Centre of Science would occur without warning. Half an hour after the attack ensued on Fenrir, another outbreak of 32 million broods began across the Xenoentomology Centre on Turing...and 15 minutes after that attack, 32 million broods unleashed another brazen incursion on the 
Factory Hub on Achernar Secundus.
An onslaught of this magnitude by the Terminids was unprecedented. With the cause of this explosion of bug outbreaks yet to be addressed, the Helldivers would have to choose where to make their stand, and High Command would wait for the official liberation of Gacrux shortly after before issuing any direct demands to the Corps. Sure enough, moments after the swampy Gacrux was liberated, High Command issued a dire alert for all Helldivers to deploy to the defense against the rampaging bugs, stating that a massive surge in the Terminid population was fueling this unprovoked attack. The Helldivers were thus ordered to kill 6,000,000,000 Terminids to affect a massive decrease in their population, thus ending the assault. Additionally, the new Maximum Security City on Fort Union was advised to be held at all costs.
Operation Heatshield[]
The Super Destroyers and the DSS are orbiting Erata Prime after the spread of the Gloom into this system. October 23rd, 2185.
Erata Prime would remain under Terminid control following its fall during the Terminid Superonslaught that formed part of what later became referred to as the Triple Offensive, as it was shortly followed by both a massive Automaton attack aimed at Emeria and a corresponding Illuminate attack aimed at Fort Sanctuary. However, once the Helldivers successfully vanquished all of their enemies with the final victory over the Terminids at the Battle of New Hope City on August 30th, plans for a counteroffensive would begin to take shape.
With the Great Expedition into the Gloom, the Helldivers took the battle right to the Terminids' own disgusting Hive Worlds for the first time in the war. However, this soon began to make the Gloom itself react violently and, in an unprecedented act of barbaric fascism, the Gloom began to expand once again.
Erata Prime itself would see its first Gloom spores appear on October 9th amidst Operation Split Synapse, and would subsequently be heavily enveloped by the Gloom on October 16th during Operation Reclaimed Fire after a brief recession of the Gloom. This, in turn, made Erata Prime into a hotbed for Terminid Spore Burst Strain activity and compromised Gloom Base Alpha on Hellmire to a degree that jeopardized the Great Expedition's operational integrity.
As such, High Command would issue orders for the Helldivers to liberate Erata Prime and Estanu, which had also been enveloped by the Gloom the week prior, while also keeping Hellmire safe from any and all Terminid outbreaks. Thanks to prior SEAF-Helldiver joint campaigns, the Helldivers had managed to establish a beachhead on the Town of Old Chemland which, while having had the progress achieved by its liberation reversed, it still gave the 
S.E.A.F. Ground Troops a forward command outpost from where to coordinate planetwide liberation efforts, while the Helldivers began conducting eradication missions all throughout the planet, cleansing one urban colony after another.
A Helldiver exterminates Terminids on the night streets of Pham's Site. October 23th, 2185.
Progress continued steadily on Erata Prime until a Terminid attack on Hellmire on the night of October 21st forced all Helldivers to immediately redeploy and heed Hellmire's call for aid. However, while this development did hamper the progress of Erata's liberation campaign, the Helldivers still managed to liberate the Town of New Da Nang, which further pushed the liberation campaign's operational objectives forward while dislodging the Terminids from one of the planet's most important urban centers.
Following the successful defense of Hellmire, the Helldivers would return in force to Erata Prime and, better yet, brought the Democracy Space Station with them, now with the Heavy Ordnance Distribution activated and ready to further bolster liberation efforts on the planet. With the aid of the DSS' Heavy Ordnance, the Helldivers would manage to liberate the Settlement of Pham's Site on the night of October 23rd, which dislodged the Terminids from all Mega Cities on the planet and sent their hordes into disarray, leaving the planet primed for imminent liberation as the Helldivers sweeped remaining urban settlements clean of any Terminid enclaves that could be found.
However, Erata Prime would return to Liberty's embrace struck with a fascist illness. Despite its liberation, the heavy concentration of Gloom spores in its atmosphere remained uncleansed, raising concerns for the long-term security of not just Erata Prime but all planets connected to it as well.
Operation Kalium[]
Short summary of stuff.
Attacked on December 14th. 48h defense.
Started bad but Helldivers persisted through the first day. Then, early hours of Dec. 16th, New Da Nang is defended and gives a major boost to the defense. Hours after that, Pham's Site is defended.
Erata Prime defense is won on December 16th at around 15:15 SEST, only 1 hour before defense fail.
FTL Lines[]
FTL Timeline[]
- February 8th, 2184: Erata Prime is connected by FTL to Fenrir III, Heeth, and Hellmire.
- November 4th, 2184: FTL line to Bore Rock is established.
- August 27th, 2185: FTL line to Fenrir III is destroyed, new FTL line to Nivel 43 is established.
Trivia[]
- Da Nang is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam and is the largest city in the region. The city's origins date back to the ancient kingdom of Champa, established in 192 AD and the final U.S. ground combat operations in Vietnam ceased on 13 August 1972, when a residual force of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade stood down in Da Nang.