(2 months later. On a Yu Clan controlled planet, Two Righteous Faction Commoners at an outdoor café)
A lot changed in the universe in the months following the fall of Du Lohora, as what had first seemed like an isolated catastrophe slowly revealed itself to be the beginning of a structural collapse that no single faction appeared capable of containing.
At a modest outdoor café overlooking a crowded transit boulevard, two middle-aged men sat across from one another beneath a flickering canopy light, a folded news-sheet spread between their cups of cooling tea as hover-vehicles drifted past in restless streams overhead.
"Did you see the headline today?" one of them asked, tapping the bold print with a nervous finger as his eyes skimmed the columns again to ensure he had not misread the figures.
"Looks like the Cult captured their second planet in the last two months, while Dragon King Moltherak and his forces have taken five in the same period.
