Umbra

"Join the Volunteer Militia, protect your sectors, defeat the Altairian Invaders and reap the rewards - Past transgressions forgiven, criminal records expunged, Humankind stands as one!"

- Umbra Propaganda Message

The Umbra are a faction introduced in VEGA Conflict at the end of the Altairian season in July 2018. It appears to be an advanced form of the Alien Infection that has completely consumed the Beta Persei Sectors as well as the rest of the VEGA Federation. Their ships are relatively advanced, on par with Altairian technology. They are the first faction to not use shields, instead relying on a new form of defense in the form of Ablation.

History
The Umbra first appear in Ashes through a series of garbled transmissions, as many of the key rebel figures, namely Larus, Burr and Klavic are attempting to reach the other rebels, although their transmissions are very unclear. This is also supplemented by transmissions from the VEGA Federation asking the rebels to take up arms against the Altairians, offering clemency as well as the purging of their criminal records in exchange for their services.

Umbra forces soon make a debut in the form of Umbra Infectors, which consist of Phoenix Frigates that are in the process of infecting remnant Demon Corps Ships, thus leading to the presumption that the Umbra is a form of infection that has completely consumed the VEGA Federation.

However, Umbra technology seems to be widely coveted by both the Altairians and VEGA Federation (namely the VEGA Demon Corps) alike, since both have dispatched ships in order to capture them.

In Vector, Bishop, now consumed by the Alien infection and leader of the Umbra, calls out to the rebels to join his Umbra Militia with all past transgressions forgiven. His forces officially introduce themselves with the debut of the Wraith Cruiser, the first ship of its kind to be capable of absorbing damage from the pieces of debris left in the wake of battle as a result of dealing damage to enemy ships. Rhea Dage and Larus note its unlike anything they've seen before.

During Pestilence, In order to gather more intelligence, Rhea Dage infiltrates one of the VEGA Processing Complexes, under the disguise as a VSec officer (by borrowing Larus' old uniform) to find out more information about the Umbra. She has found that Bishop and the Umbra have turned the complex into a prison camp, meant for those who have willingly surrendered and "joined" the Umbra cause. They are revealed to ruthlessly work their prisoners to their death, and when they are unable to continue, place them in incubation tanks to fuse them with Blood Amber, turning them into mutant supersoldiers.

During Redux, Rhea Dage transmits the blueprints for Umbra's Medusa Destroyer, and rescues one of the prisoners form the camp, who was revealed to be Keres VII, former leader of the Iron Star Company and is surprisingly not afflicted with the Xeno Plague. Enraged, Bishop sends an ultimatum to the Rebels, demanding she be returned or the Umbra will retaliate aggressively. The rebels refuse, and they engage with the Umbra forces in a heated battle.

During Chrysalis, Keres escapes rebel custody, still in denial and distrustful of the rebels. Knowing that the Umbra will definitely try to reclaim her, Burr sends out a search party to look for her. He contacts Tatiana Demina, the ISC's second in command, asking for her assistance. Tatiana reluctantly agrees, and offers the blueprints for the Manticore Battlecruiser in exchange for bring back Keres safely.

Finally, in Catalyst, Keres is revealed to have stolen a Harvester from the Altairians and used it to directly attack Umbra HQ in a suicide mission as revenge for the experiments that were conducted on her. The Rebels pursue after her, evacuating prisoners of war out of the way. Keres was just about to assassinate Bishop when strange machines phased in, resulting in chaos that allowed Bishop to escape in the crossfire. Keres was then rescued shortly after by Tatiana from the burning wreckage of the Harvester.

Bishop attempts to negotiate with the Pharmakon during Duplicity, but was later cured back to his original state during Synthesis, much to his horror. Acknowledging that the Pharmakon can no longer be ignored and are a significant threat, he negotiates an alliance with the rebels and Altairians during Vestige, but secretly makes his own plans to depose Klavic during Demise, by spiking his drink and then leaving him to die at the hands of the Pharmakon. He then started obsessing over reconstructing the hypergate to allow travel to deep space during the events of Justice, and Kobus Chiron begins to suspect he no longer has Umbra's best interests, resulting in a power struggle accross the faction.

He later kidnaps Victoria Onin during Collateral, and sets his ship on a collision course with Umbra HQ, and Kobus deploys his Valrayvns in response to the impending threat. Both were later stopped by the rebels and Bishop was apprehended, while Kobus locks himself in his lab, barring Keres and anyone else from entering, and they respond by destroying his lab

Kobus issues an ultimatum soon after in Awakening to bring Keres and Bishop in for destroying his lab and incinerating decades of research, warning there will be consequences for not doing so. He however, fails to prevent Ny'tah from executing Bishop in Extradition, and warns the rebels won't see the last of him. He constructs a new lab and resumes his experiments on the Alien Mothership, kidnapping the Pharmakon Android V-153 to aid him in his work in Hijack.

With Bishop's demise as well as Kobus Chiron's capture, Umbra's leadership is essentially no more. Umbra fleets can however, still be seen patrolling their sectors on occasion.

Ships and Technology
"The new specs we stole from VEGA are disturbing as well. This VEGA hull has a reactor made of pure Blood Amber. It's powerful as hell, though -- even if we don't fully understand the tech."

- Larus The Umbra have a variety of hulls at their disposal. Firstly, the Phoenix Frigate, which is a heavily armored agile frigate that is designed to kill Carriers with its Bloodhunt ability.

Secondly, the Wraith Cruiser, a first of its kind, is capable of jamming enemy weapons and restoring its defenses by damaging and destroying enemy ships.

The Ogre Battleship, a bloodthirsty creation, gets stronger the longer it remains in combat, gaining increased damage output and missile splash radius as it continues to destroy enemy ships.

The Medusa Destroyer is the Umbra's long range attack hull, capable of disabling Force Field Walls with its Gorgon Gaze. The Valrayvn improves upon the shortcomings of the Medusas, gaining a damage boost as it deals out damage while allowing itself to reposition the moment it destroys an enemy ship.

The Manticore Battlecruiser is a myriad of offense and defense, combining the high forward speed of a cutter with the Dual Firing Arc of a Battleship and maneuverability of a frigate. Its Bloodrush ability grants it increased maneuverability and the ability to disrupt shields when enemies are caught within both of its firing arcs.

The Behemoth Dreadnought is the Umbra's capital ship, and their most frightening creation. It carries the firepower of an entire fleet, and is able to engage in combat, one-on-one with other ships and emerge the victor easily.

The Leviathan Dreadnought was then created to counter the Behemoth's weaknesses in mind, with improved turning and movement speed, while boasting more onboard weapon systems to further improve its ability to retaliate against threats.

Umbra technology gained massive leaps with Kobus Chiron's Valrayvn, which was capable of dealing damage from afar to its targets and then relocating when they were neutralized.

The Titan-class Amarok serves as an effective meat shield for Umbra, while providing fire disruption in order to prevent its enemies from retaliating.

The Wendigo is Umbra's fighter, and can rapidly close the distance once it enters its enemy's range arc, this combined with Umbra's ablation makes the Wendigo a lethal foe in close quarters.

The Umbra also possess a nightmarish form of armor, Thonian Armor and Ablative Tungsten Armor, that is capable of restoring its defenses in the same method as the Wraith through the damaging and destruction of enemy ships.

The Umbra also possess advanced weapons of their own as well, such as the Nova Cannon. Some of their weapons make use of a damage type, Blight, that is capable of consuming and eating through living things and hulls alike.

Notable Figures
The Umbra are lead by Bishop, who has succumbed to the Alien infection. He is trying to recruit the rebels to his cause and to get them to rise up against the Altairians, with all of their past transgressions forgiven. However, as he begins to reconsider his side against the Pharmakon, Dr. Kobus Chiron begins an uprising against him, resulting in a power struggle permeating across Umbra.

Trivia

 * The Umbra are the second Tier 7 faction.
 * Many players did not expect the appearance of the Umbra Infectors during the Mini Outbreak event before Ashes.