| “ | Scorching temperatures, high winds, and low precipitation cause a near-constant cycle of fires to sweep this planet, punctuated by short bursts of lush rebirth between infernos. | „ |
| ~ Official Description |
Imber is one of four planets that reside within the Talus Sector. The planet is also rich in titanium deposits, making it home to many mines and a high-capacity storage facility designed to securely house vast quantities of refined titanium. The latter facilities are built to withstand Imber's environmental hazards and extreme conditions, which also ensured the metal's preservation and protection from raiders. Its remote location also provides strategic isolation for valuable resource stockpiling -- at least at the start of the second galactic war.
Topography[ | ]
Similar to Pöpli IX, Menkent and Wezen. Scorching temperatures, high winds, and low precipitation cause a near-constant cycle of fires to sweep this planet, punctuated by short bursts of lush rebirth between infernos. However under the sands and rock of this sand blasted wasteland are rich deposits of titanium. Moreover, the dry conditions also reduce corrosion and the planet's out of the way positioning made it ideal for also constructing facilities and depots to store the titanium once dug out of the ground and refined. Unfortunately this would be something which would attract the automatons later in the war...
History[ | ]
Second Galactic War[ | ]
Operation Titanium Belt[ | ]
Imber would become the objective of a Major Order on September 6, 2184, as intercepted Automaton communications indicated that they intend to capture the planet's titanium storage facility. Shortly after being notified, the Colonial Overseer at Imber ordered its colonists to reinforce their settlements and to stockpile weapons, in case the assault at Gaellivare could not be contained. This prevention proved crucial as, a day later, the Automaton forces captured Gaellivare and immediately sent an assault toward Imber. Thankfully, with ample Helldiver support and the appropriate preparations, the Automatons were able to be repelled after 2 days of gruesome desert combat.
However, the Automatons' subroutines of hatred kept on craving destruction and, after resupplying from Lesath, would launch an attack onto Imber alongside with the Automaton force at Vog-Sojoth, which sent an assault onto Claorell. However, the Helldivers were committed to keeping Imber's titanium deposits off the robots' expansionist claws and repelled the assault from Gaellivare after only 16 hours, which allowed to rotate towards Claorell in hopes of a last minute rescue of its colonial defense, in an attempt to rectify the blunders made early on during the operation at Gaellivare and Vog-Sojoth.
The success of operation Titanium Belt would see the titanium deposits on Imber retained, and the Helldivers successfully beating back most of the incursions into Super Earth territory. However decrypted intel indicated that the Automatons continue to pursue the construction of some kind of limited-use strike force, the nature of which continues to be investigated. However, denied critical resources, the Automatons efforts to expand their war fighting capability will be delayed. Moreover, the retention of Imber's titanium is a relief for the hardworking citizens who rely on the corrosion-resistant metal to coat the chemical processing equipment they use every day, for many hours. Their continued job security and workplace safety is thanks to the sacrifices made by the Helldivers.
Operation Liberty Tide[ | ]
Imber would remain safeguarded for a little more than a week. While the Helldivers were diverted back towards the Terminid Front, the Automatons would retreat their vanguard at the Marspira Sector, leaving behind valuable polystyrene deposits that allowed for the fleetwide deployment of Orbital Napalm Barrages. However, with the withdrawal of their vanguard, the Automatons would soon find an opportunity to advance towards Imber. On September 19th, the robots managed to overwhelm the defenses of Clasa and Claorell. However, while Imber's position was threatened, it would lead up to little ocurring, as the Helldivers captured the underdefended Claorell. However, this planetary capture would be for naught since some days later, on September 22nd, the Automatons launched an assault onto Imber from Gaellivare.
Despite the deployment of the majority of Helldivers towards Imber, it was not possible for the Helldivers to successfully defend Imber, as a significant portion of the required manpower was left behind at the Terminid Front. As such, despite immense sacrifice, Imber was captured by the Automatons on September 23rd.
The fall of Imber caused the operation to be deemed a failure, as its loss pretty much set the balance of net galactic liberation back to zero, meaning that, effectively, net galactic liberation levels had not been increased as ordered.
Operation Freedom's Forge[ | ]
Imber would remain occupied for the last week of September, its Automaton occupiers going on to invade Shelt and then attempt an invasion of Mastia which would be decimated on October 3rd with Shelt's liberation. For some days, it remained as a low priority objective until the Helldivers liberated neighboring Gaellivare and began the construction of the Democracy Space Station.
With the finalization of the Xenoentomology Center at Turing, Super Earth High Command prepared for the next phase of the Democracy Space Station's construction. Following certain discoveries by the Ministry of Intelligence, Super Earth would discover that the Automatons were conducting heavy excavations on nearby Claorell in order to construct a Deep Mantle facility, a facility that reaches down almost to a planet's core in order to make use of the core's extreme heat and pressure. Seeing an opportunity to both construct a Deep Mantle Forge Complex necessary for the metalworking required to build the DSS and liberate territory from the Automatons all in one strike, Super Earth High Command ordered the liberation of Claorell on October 4th.
Claorell was flanked by 2 Automaton controlled planets. Clasa, a now heavily reinforced forward command base for the Automatons in the Tanis Sector, and Imber, which now stood as the only remaining Automaton-controlled enclave on the Talus Sector. As such, while a significant portion of the Helldivers chose to attempt the liberation of Clasa, the majority of the Helldiver Corps mobilized towards Imber.
After 2 days of extreme fighting and heavy casualties due to fire tornadoes, the Helldivers managed to liberate Imber, opening the way into Claorell and finally removing the Automatons from the Talus Sector, further reinforcing Gaellivare, and with it the Democracy Space Station.
FTL Lines[ | ]
- Claorell - Tanis Sector (Established on September 6, 2184)
- Gaellivare (Re-established on September 6, 2184)
- Shelt (Re-established on September 6, 2184)
FTL Timeline[ | ]
- February 8th, 2184: Imber is connected by FTL to Gaellivare and Shelt.
- June 13th, 2184: FTL lines to Gaellivare and Shelt are destroyed.
- September 6th, 2184: FTL lines to Gaellivare and Shelt are re-established, plus a new line to Claorell.