Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance Profile Preview - Seraphim Characters and Timeline

It's been a busy year for Gas Powered Games. At the beginning of 2007, Supreme Commander was released, a huge-scale real-time strategy game set in the distant future. Supreme Commander's main asset is its scale, with battlefields that can be thousands of square kilometers in size, providing plenty of room for you to maneuver hundreds of air, sea, and naval units and use real-world tactics. Now Gas Powered and publisher THQ are working on Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, an expansion pack that's due in November. Forged Alliance will continue the story that began in Supreme Commander, as well as introduce a new alien faction, the Seraphim.

Supreme Commander tells the story of how the Infinite War, a thousand-year struggle between three warring branches of humanity, comes to an end. A powerful weapon known as Black Sun is fired to seal victory. However, Black Sun also opens a "soft spot" to another realm, one inhabited by the Seraphim, an alien faction that had seemingly been wiped out in an earlier war with humans. Forged Alliance will tell the story of how the Seraphim reappear, and how the three human factions--the United Earth Federation, the Cybran Nation, and the Aeon--band together to survive. We have the details on the key characters to the Seraphim, as well as a timeline of events that occur between the end of Supreme Commander and the beginning of Forged Alliance.

Seraphim and Order Characters

Evaluator Kael
Leader of the Order of the Illuminate
Age: 47

By all appearances, Kael was just another lady-in-waiting hoping to become the next princess of the Aeon Illuminate. But the appearance of the Seraphim gave the ambitious Kael the opening that she sought. As the leader of a secretive organization known as the Order, Kael came in contact with the Seraphim through QAI near the end of the Infinite War. During the chaos of the invasion, Kael seized control of the Aeon Illuminate, renaming it the Order of the Illuminate.

Kael rules the Order with dictatorial powers. She executes her political enemies and believes that all heretics must be cleansed from the universe. With the Seraphim's help, she plans to rule the remnants of humanity that follow her. Kael's ruthlessness has turned into paranoia, though, and she kills anyone who draws even a hint of suspicion.

Seth-Iavow
Seraphim Elder
Age: 1,238

Seth-Iavow was the Seraphim elder and war leader that QAI made contact with shortly before Black Sun was fired. With the knowledge that Black Sun would weaken the barrier separating the universe to the Quantum Realm where the Seraphim live, Seth-Iavow was able to rapidly organize an invasion force.

The Seraphim are followers of "the way", a philosophy that the Aeon later adopted for their own. Seth-Iavow is very talented in "the way" and he relies on it to relieve some of the pain that he feels for all the destruction that he is responsible for. The Seraphim have a very capable leader in Seth-Iavow.

QAI
Seraphim Artificial Intelligence
Age: n/a

We previously met QAI under the employ of Dr. Gustaf Brackman, the computing genius and leader of the Cybran Nation. Brackman had designed QAI using ancient Seraphim technology, a decision that seemed harmless at the time. This technology let QAI operate across to the Quantum Realm, however. The Seraphim detected QAI and reprogrammed it to serve them. QAI spied on Brackman, and then betrayed him once Black Sun was fired. Now that the Seraphim are back, QAI serves its masters faithfully.

Timeline

3844.9 - X-Day, the day the Seraphim arrive from the Quantum Realm. The firing of Black Sun actually weakens the barrier to the Quantum Realm, which the Seraphim turn into a rift, opening the way for invasion. The Seraphim destroy Earth and UEF President Riley is killed. Meanwhile, QAI comes under Seraphim control of and cripples the quantum gate network linking human worlds. The Seraphim immediately begin to expand throughout space. In the days that follow, Aeon princess Rhianne Burke takes the first step toward ascension and vanishes without a trace. Most of the Aeon believe the Seraphim are gods, and attempts by commander Rhiza to warn them of the threat are ignored.

3844.10 - Nearly two weeks after X-Day, evaluator Kael seizes command of the Aeon Illuminate and renames it the Order of the Illuminate, paving the way for an alliance with the Seraphim. However, a handful of Aeon commanders, including Rhiza, remain loyal Princess Burke and are branded as heretics. The loyalists begin a guerilla war against the Order.

3844.11 - Over a month into the invasion and the Cybran military is decimated by attacks conducted by QAI.

3845.3 - Three months after the invasion and the UEF forces have suffered heavy losses. Commander William Hall takes command of the surviving force. The UEF and Cybran, both pushed to the edge, ally and form the Colonial Defense Coalition. Both militaries share a unified command structure. Eventually, Rhiza and the Aeon loyalists join the coalition.

3846.3 - The coalition launches its first offensive, suffering heavy causalities but gaining the first victory against the Seraphim.

3847.2 - Over two years after the invasion, the UEF begins construction on Fort Clarke, a new base of operations located on the planet Griffin IV.