Catastrophe Strikes Amarr Planet – Blood Raiders Claim Responsibility

At 09:42 EVT this morning, Mabnen I in the Throne Worlds constellation was struck by disaster as an unknown aerosol was released into its atmosphere above Hemlock Field, an aggregation of slave colonies that stretches across one of the planet’s continents and represents one of the single largest indentured worker habitats in the Amarr empire.

The fourteen orbit-breacher vessels distributing the aerosol were swiftly shot down by regional detachments of the Mabnen Air Force, but the damage had already been done: the planet’s strong surface winds had caught the toxin and would, within minutes, distribute it throughout most of the colonies’ vast territory.

Eight minutes after the orbit-breachers had been shot down and the crisis was thought to have been averted, two of Hemlock Field’s twelve colonies were in flames. News cameras have since caught footage of Amarrian guards’ disembodied heads, staked out on the parapets girding the guard fortress of a colony belonging to Holder Terram Kador.

Other colonies, too, suffered great upheavals. At 10:08 EVT, roughly 30 minutes after the initial attack, seven of the twelve colonies had suffered complete radio communications blackouts. Military forces were called in at that point, and at time of going to press pitched battles are still being fought between Mabnen Army squadrons and the insurgents, most of whom are reportedly armed with little more than stones and tools. Four of the colonies have been hit with air strikes. Casualty numbers are unknown at this time.

Omir Sarikusa, leader of the Blood Raider Covenant, at exactly 12:00 noon today released a statement to the media, claiming full responsibility for the attack and stating that “today’s exercise was merely the beginning. The complacent giant is about to fall, and Insorum shall be the knife in its stomach.” He furthermore went on to thank loyalist capsuleer corporation Blood Inquisition – and their associates – for their “discreet and professional aid” in transporting large quantities of the drug to the site of the attack.

Neither the Emperor nor the Imperial Chancellor has released any form of statement at time of going to press, but Emperor Kor-Azor is known to be sitting in council with some of his top advisors. A statement is expected either later today or tomorrow.

Preliminary estimates of the asset damage caused by the attack are reportedly in the vicinity of seventeen billion ISK.

More on the situation as it develops.