The Council Revamp

inb4 having to side with Hamidon or Nictus as polar opposites

Then the whole "taking over the planet to strip it of resources" becomes a case of survival. They simply want to survive, and they survive through consuming. Yes, a polar opposite of Hamidon.

Remove them?

They would be pretty much the same as they are now but with a different motivation, which would probably only become obvious in a few arcs, maybe a TF if we're lucky.

I would love if they changed the bulk of them to use more nictus effects but I'm not holding my breath.

I just don't see the point of having two virtually identical groups, so similar that it's practically impossible to keep track of which group the various leader figures belong to at any one time. The simplest and easiest way to make the two groups different enough that they both become more interesting would seem to be to give one of them a new agenda. Preferably one that doesn't invalidate all the content that they already feature in. Nihilism seems to fit the nictus perfectly.

WHY they are nihilists? Hell, I don't know. They are aliens, who knows what they are thinking? Maybe the procedure turning them into nictus twisted their minds to the point where they see this universe as a big mistake that must be erased to bring about a new perfect world. It could be anything really. The point is that the nictus, as aliens, don't need a reason we humans can understand. Think of them as a swarm of fluffy glowing Great Old Ones or Elder Gods, unknowable, indifferent, unfathomable. Alien. The Council would be the insane cultists who worship, summon and let them possess their bodies in exchange for power.

Perhaps rather than Nihilists, we take it one step less. Instead of Nihilists, which want the dissolution of everything, they are the alien equivelent of Locusts. They find a world, and gobble it up before moving on.

This is what I would do with the 5th and Council as they are now:

Give 5th troops syndicate trench coats with 5th iconography. This would make the human mobs of the two more distinct than the current recolor+logo.

Make all council spawns work as if there was a kheldian in the mission. So even "normal" teams will encounter the occasional void hunter or nictus.


Requiem calls his old partners Nosferatu and Vandal back to 5th.

The council keep the vampyri and mek men. Burkholder (as shown in a recent arc, he is not exactly loyal but is prevented from joining the 5th) stays and works on the robots. Various nameless evil/kidnapped scientists keep the Cor Leonis and vampyri programs going.

Play up Maestro as a mad scientist and designer of councils sonic guns. Possibly add a boss level sonic blast using mob.

Requiem, not being happy in second place, tries to take over the 5th from Reichsman. He called Nosferatu and Vandal to the 5th to support him in this. But they do not. Only a small portion of the human soldiers, and the war wolves - being sort-of-nictus, follow Requiem. The coup fails and the rebels are cast out. Most are recruited by the council - there are old ties and council is mostly losing vs the 5th so it needs every possible advantage. But a rare boss level "rogue war wolf" could be added to (some) low level group(s) - perhaps Skulls ? No more war wolves in 5th. Requiem himself goes into hiding.

It turns out that Reichsman expected a betrayal and acted first. He secured the loyalty of Vandal and Nosferatu by promising them technology and resources from Axis Earth. Reichsman makes good on his promise. The two mad scientists use the new knowledge to improve their "products". 5th vampyri and mek men get some power changes, if possible new models, more distinct from the council versions.