We have met the enemy and he is you

Early intelligence estimates suggest that there is one confirmed Savasku player in the campaign over and above the lurking Savasku presence presumed to be present among Con's designated worlds. There are ugly rumours that the two clans may be related.

Unfounded rumours suggest that the other occupants of near space include one Kravak civilisation, or perhaps by now they've sold out to the Phalons (communications with this isolated region are poor due to a historic aversion to technology), and a wildly schizophrenic and xenophobic civilisation which may yet prove to be Human, Savasku, Kravak, Phalon, or all four, or something else. For the moment, they're known only as the Muratians.

The UN, as is their habit, are watching this with a mixture of trepidation and numb bewilderment. Reports from Really, Really, Really New New York allege that even now the UN is on a peacetime footing with no sign of a military ship building programme but an endless stream of bureaucratic directives and statements of principle, together with occasional in depth reports into the blindingly obvious. UN Secretary General Kofi Bräk was unavailable for comment. His spokesman promised that some really interesting reports on regional temperature change could be expected as soon as they could be agreed. His spokesman's hairdresser is quoted as saying that the UN will do anything for a quiet life, and hope to see out the coming turmoil without becoming directly involved in anything other than peacekeeping operations.