Yet Niemeier does not dip into the cesspool of grimdark nor the bloody thrill of atrocity. Black-hearted monsters fight with the good guys, while honorable opponents fight for the no less evil SOC, just as the SOC’s paternalism for their conquered peoples is exchanged in hopes of a more final solution to the Earther problem. While the nationalist Earthers are portrayed as the sympathetic side in the XSeed saga, their methods in CY 40 are no longer as pure as they once were, dealing out atrocities just as severe as the ones inflicted on their people in the past. But where CY 1‘s plot explored shifting loyalties between two stark moral poles, CY 40 is a grayer martial thriller. Like with Brian Niemeier’s Soul Cycle and the previous XSeed, a simple summary is not enough to capture the twists, shifting intrigues, and stunning revelations in Combat Frame XSeed: Coalition Year 40. But a growing unease builds among the XSeed pilots, as Arthur Wake might just be a monster as well. Equipped with these series 100 XSeeds and aimed at both the SOCs and Megami’s monster, these partisans rampage against the SOC forces, easily taking down all opposition by their oppressors. During one of their raids, they receive a strange message which leads them to a mysterious benefactor–and four of the most powerful combat frames ever. The Brussels HLO cell, led by Tom “Arthur Wake” Dormio, is an unusually effective cell, costing the local SOC governor nearly 50 officials and ten million credits in damage. How can you fight a monster, but by creating one of your own? As new intrigues threaten another SOC-launched cleansing of Earth, the Human Liberation Organization strives to free Earth from SOC control. When he used this secret to turn Elizabeth Friedlander into the self-proclaimed Goddess of the World, Sekaino Megami, he birthed a monster that terrorized humanity–a monster that lived on past Megami’s death.

“You probably won’t.”īefore the asteroid drops, combat frame battles, betrayals, and ultimate victory of the Systems Overterrestrial Coalition (SOC)–described in the first Combat Frame Xseed novel and the Coalition Year 2 (CY 2) short story–Senzan Kaimura discovered something in the Martian ruins. “I will enjoy speaking with the architect of HALO’s success.”

Combat Frame XSeed by Brian Niemeier