Great War

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The Great War is an ongoing interstellar conflict between the Peacekeeper Alliance and the  Warlord Pact, as well as various  neutral powers that are fighting for their own causes or in favor of one side. It is the largest and bloodiest conflict in the history of the known galaxy, directly or indirectly involving over thirty sovereign nations, more than sixty sapient species, and being responsible for the deaths of untold billions of soldiers and civilians, the destruction of countless colonies, most famously Norsus, the former homeworld of the Rach, as well as the total collapse of several nations.

The Rach founded the Peacekeeper Alliance in response to the numerous expansionist military powers across the region, most notably the Margan, who sought to exterminate all life in the galaxy. After losing their initial engagements with the Alliance, the Margan came to the Zaretian Monarchy and Repzork Empire to propose an alliance against the Peacekeepers. To prevent this, the Rach infiltrated the meeting, which was held on the Zartar, and attempted to assassinate the leaders of the three powers. They failed, however, and the three nations founded what would become the Warlord Pact and declared war against the Alliance.

The Peacekeepers suffered several defeats at the onset of the war, particularly the Rach, whose military was woefully unprepared for large-scale warfare. The Alliance was soon joined by the Karahotdoum Empire and achieved its first major victory when the Aeverian navy defeated the Zaretians at the Battle of Zetta Secundus, an act which prompted the Magello Empire to join the Pact in fear of potential retribution for past crimes. The Acropolan declared its allegiance to the Alliance, but was locked in conflict with the Conkirite, who joined the Pact in retaliation. The Warlords regained the initiative as it was joined by the heavily mechanized Necraal, though a small few would either defect to the Peacekeepers or join the recently-founded Virisus. Following the narrowly repelled Zaretian invasion of their homeworld, Aserai, the Dragoneteran Monarchy joined the Peacekeepers. The Empire of Diablos also joined the Peacekeepers and launched several offensives against Pact members, but while they dealt a serious blow, they were unable to entirely halt their advance into Peacekeeper space. The Luminarians, after being assisted by the Aeverians, also joined and began sending aid. However, this sparked a violent schism in Luminarian society, hampering their ability to fight in the war for several years. Despite their extremely small numbers and the great risks involved, the Kastalians also intervened for the Peacekeepers. Later, during an attack on a Warbot Industries facility, the Skrey were contacted by the Repzork and subsequently inducted into the Pact. The Asanian Syndicate were encountered by the Margan during an assault on a Diabloian colony and also became members of the Pact. In an effort to produce a new slave state and claim their resources, the Zaretians invaded the Betel homeworld of Betel; however, they were repelled, and the previously neutral Betel became a member of the Peacekeepers, though some of them instead defected to the Pact, forming the Decomp rebels. The Repzork then launched their own invasion, though while they were initially repelled, they quickly gained ground, and formed an alliance with the Xeverra in the process. While the war was raging, the Peacekeepers founded the Anti-Biomatter Task Force (ABTF) to combat the Biomatter Swarms following the fall of Rotunin.

Five years into the war, with the Rach on the brink of collapse, the Warlords initiated Operation Sledgehammer, a massive coordinated offensive which had the goal of weakening the major Peacekeeper powers and prevent them from being able to adequately respond to the planned invasion of Norsus, code-named Operation Downfall. Over the next several months, while they did not achieve all of their objectives, the Warlords dealt a devastating blow to the Peacekeepers and left some of them crippled, albeit it came at a steep cost, leaving the Margan and Zaretians the only powers able to launch a large-scale invasion of the Rach homeworld. As the last stealth generator was deactivated and Norsus was revealed, the Warlords attacked, and quickly overran the defenders. In a desperate last-ditch effort to survive, the surviving Rach opened a portal into the Warp and fled into the alternate dimension, the Margan chasing after them in an attempt to finally put an end to them.

Still recuperating their losses from Sledgehammer and without the Margan to support them, the Warlords were left in a vulnerable position, allowing the Peacekeepers to strike back. This coincided with the intervention of the Empire of Galdera, who launched Operation Dark Angel a few weeks following the invasion of Norsus. For the next decade, Warlords forces would primarily be on the defensive, and would suffer a number of catastrophic defeats. Repzork forces were almost entirely repelled from Betel space, prompting the empire to initiate scorched earth tactics in the form of massed crystal bombardments. The Aeverians and Luminarians launched a combined offensive into Zaretian territory, and successfully captured Nu-Zartar. The Sauran reached a breakthrough and devised a way in which to slow down and gradually reverse the growth of Margan crystals, paving the way for the Solidarity to slowly reverse the severe environmental damage the dynasties had caused prior to their disappearance and curb the Repzork's continued use of crystal munitions.

Ten years after the invasion of Norsus, the Rach returned from the Warp and attempted to reclaim their homeworld, which was still under Zaretian control. They also warned the Peacekeepers that the Margan were still on their trail and would soon return. Several Peacekeepers and a few neutral powers sent troops to support the Rach. Peacekeepers forces were well on their way to recapturing Norsus until a few weeks later, when the Margan Empire returned from the Warp and immediately launched attacks against both the planet itself and the surrounding area. Peacekeeper and neutral forces were forced to retreat from the area, and Norsus was rendered nearly uninhabitable and was subsequently abandoned by most combatants.

With the Margan back on their side and many Warlords having long updated their technology and tactics to adapt to the changing battlefield, the Pact has experienced a resurgence in power, and has began reacquiring some of the territory it had lost in the interim period. Peacekeeper morale has hit an all-time low once more as hopes for an eventual victory have been dashed and the war continues to drag on with no clear victor.

Background
See also: History of the Milky Way Galaxy

Since the end of the Ancient Era, a myriad of new races have appeared throughout the galaxy. Some of these nations emphasize militarism, conquest, imperialism, fascism, and other violent ideologies.

Following a catastrophic mass-extinction event that wiped out most species and opened the vast underground cave networks on their homeworld, Marga, the Margan, who were now one of the only remaining prey animals, were constantly harassed by numerous predatory creatures that relied on terror, lures, and constant harassment to catch their prey. This caused the once-timid Margan to become increasingly paranoid and xenophobic. Though many Margan either tried to hide from the predators of their homeworld or simply accepted their fate in some form or another, one Margan, now known only as the 'Angel' or 'Savior', initiated a purge that eventually wiped out all life on their homeworld, driving their species to space in what would eventually become the vast nomadic fleets they live in today. They traveled from system-to-system, strip-mining the planets they came across to fuel their ever-expanding flotilla. This was until they discovered other life in the galaxy, causing the Margan to despair, fearing that the horrors of Marga would repeat themselves. It was during this time that the current High Priestess, Massachiah, came to power and mandated the 'Holy Goal': the purging of all life in the galaxy. Ever since, the Margan have blazed a trail of death and destruction across the stars, leaving a trail of dead worlds in their wake.

For much of their history, the Necraal had been ruled by the shaman caste, who revered, protected, and in many cases worshiped nature, promoted an anti-materialist lifestyle, and were staunch pacifists. They deliberately held back the Necraal's technology in some regards so as to not 'corrupt' nature or themselves. But as time progressed, this created resentment among some in the other castes, as they felt that the shamans were preventing the Necraal from being able to reach their true potential. Initially, these groups were not considered a threat by the shamans, who still reigned supreme via the support of the king, so they were largely ignored. This changed when the Necraal began encountering alien races, some of whom took advantage of the shaman's pacifism and pillaged the fledgling nation's colonies, the Necraal's small military being too weak to stop them. Frustrated, a faction of imperialist and industrialist Necraal rose up from the outer colonies and challenged the rule of the shamans. To these Necraal, nature was something to overcome, rather than to revere, and if their race was to survive and thrive, they would need to massively build up their military and begin conquering the stars. In the years that followed, the imperialist would gain more and more influence until they gained the support of the royal family, stripping the shamans of the control they once held over the nation. Since then, the Necraal have industrialized massively and have quickly developed new technology, including that which was once banned by the shamans. The shamans themselves have fallen into the background and are slowly dying out, though a small few have taken matters into their own hands and have abandoned their pacifist ideals in order to fight against what they see as a sinful and materialistic society.

During the Arkevan Wars of Unification, which would see the founding of the Empire of Galdera, the Kalrian Empire, a fierce rival of Galdera's founders, the Nolsarians, were on the brink of defeat after having fought for over twenty years. In a desperate gambit to ensure their nation and culture's survival, the Kalrians assembled a fleet of 'exodus ships' at the edge of their borders with the intent of fleeing and rebuilding elsewhere. Those who stayed behind would provide a diversion to prevent the Nolsarians from catching them. The Nolsarians received reports of the fleet's existence, but the general in charge ignored them, certain the Kalrians would make a final stand instead of running. The fleet, along with what remained of the Kalrian government and high command, escaped, the Nolsarians realizing their error only after having fallen into the Kalrian's trap. After several years of blindly flying through space, the Kalrian fleet moved into a wormhole and found themselves in an unexplored region of the galaxy. They eventually settled on their current homeworld, Alrukai, and began to rebuild their civilization. Believing that they had made themselves weak, the Kalrians gradually threw away many of their old ideals and adopted a fascist ideology that emphasized absolute loyalty, military prowess, and racial purity. These beliefs were solidified when the empire was invaded by the Delrusar Imperium, a destructive conflict that would ultimately see the complete annihilation of the Delrusar race. In the five millennia since, the Kalrians, now known as the Repzork, have established themselves as a vast interstellar power, one that has exterminated or subjugated its adversaries as it seeks to become among the most powerful empires in the galaxy.

During the final days of the Xeverran War for Dominance, scientist secretely used a combination of Xeverran and Astatanian technology to create Galden, a highly advanced, sapient A.I capable of evolving and learning. Galden was given the goal of preserving the Xeverran race, their culture, and as much life on Xer as possible. Unfortunately, the nations of Xer initiated a nuclear war far earlier than the scientist had anticipated, forcing them to launch Galden into space to ensure its survival. Xer was rendered uninhabitable in the aftermath, and the few Xeverra that had managed to survive the initial bombardment either died or committed suicide, essentially rendering the species extinct. Gathering what information it could, Galden began to create the first Xeverran world ship and began storing samples of DNA gathered from Xeverra and Xer wildlife. From here, Galden would assemble the first Xeverran fleet and would eventually cultivate a new generation of Xeverra from the DNA it had collected. Galden would continue to lead the Xeverra from the shadows as it worked to secure the continued survival of the Xeverran species.

The Zaretian Monarchy under King Moscassin had been peacefully expanding its borders for many years and maintained peaceful relations with many interstellar powers, including the Wingle Union. Though it still fought in numerous conflicts, most were in self-defense or to assist the monarchy's allies. This changed when Breys, with the support of most of the Zaretian military, overthrew Moscassin and crowned himself king. Moscassin fled, and those who supported him either died or were imprisoned in the ensuing purge or fled to join various rebel movements. Once Breys had consolidated his power, he transformed the monarchy into a totalitarian regime where he alone held complete control over the nation. The king also reestablished slavery, which had been abolished by previous monarchs, and built up the military with the intent of conquering all that he could reach. As a result, many of the monarchy's allies cut off any and all relations with the Zaretians, including the Wingle.

The Skrey of Barrakru Kaat have never properly unified. Though various powers throughout their history have attempted it, they have all failed, their nations collapsing into infighting after a short period of time. Instead, the Skrey have been divided into a large multitude of clans, with the largest and most powerful clan acting as the de facto 'ruler' of the Skrey people; as a result, any clan could become new ruler by overthrowing the reigning clan, though this generally resulted in a long series of wars that would ultimately determine the new ruling clan. While most Skrey ruled through fear and brute force, a small few, the most successful of the Skrey's rulers, understood that better and more efficient methods existed. These rulers would work to either push their own agendas or try to advance the Skrey nation as a whole, knowing that there were other, likely more dangerous nations out there in the galaxy. It was one of these rulers who united the Skrey against the neighboring Greera, a native of the Barrakru Kaat system that attempted to wipe out the Skrey before they could become an issue.

After having exterminated their progenitors, the Ge'Va, the Asanians spent many years warring among themselves. That was until the Mixed, powerful Asanians who had bonded their bodies to Ge'Va technology, rose up and brought the Asanians under their fold. An era of rapid technological progress took place, turning their homeworld of Tornash from a collection of ruined cities to a hyper-industrialized metropolis in only a few short years. Rapid industrialization ultimately destroyed the ecosystem of their homeworld, forcing the Asanians to colonize other planets. The Syndicate has since established a large interstellar empire in an extremely short time period, and have adapted to and exterminated anything in their way, salvaging what is useful and discarding what it worthless in the process, the Asanians believing themselves to be perfection incarnate.

As the number and influence of military powers expanded, other nations took up arms in efforts to repel and eliminate them.

Despite their frightening appearance and honor-bound warrior culture, the Diabloians of the Empire of Diablos were one of the less imperialist powers in the known galaxy. In fact, the Diabloians pitied smaller, weaker nations, believing that fighting them was dishonorable and not worth the resources. Instead, they traded with many of these nations, seeing it as mutually beneficial to both parties. The Empire instead fought those that would take advantage of smaller powers, seeing their powerful armies as a more worthwhile challenge and condemning them for their dishonorable acts such as slavery and the slaughter of civilians.

While the Repzork sought to dominate the stars, the Galderans instead worked towards uniting them. Faithful followers of the goddess, Syleris, the Galderans spent the five millennia since their founding inducting several races as either member states or enclaves, believing that if they manage to unite the galaxy under the goddess' banner, then it will be one of the first major steps towards mending what is seen as a broken and dying galaxy and ultimately ushering in a new golden age, returning the galaxy to its state prior to sin. Having absorbed the personnel, technology, and doctrines of those it has inducted, the Galderans have grown into a powerful and technologically sophisticated force. The Galderans spent many years searching for the Kalrian exodus ships that founded the Repzork Empire, but they never located them, and the effort was abandoned, with most concluding that the fleet was destroyed or that the reconstruction effort was in some way a failure.

The Minomit, founders of Warbot Industries, also constructed vast armies of robotic units, though this was largely due to the fact that the minomits themselves are unfit for fighting on their own. Additionally, Warbot constructs, despite the name, could also be built for various utilitarian roles, such as medicine, construction and agriculture. Warbots Industries provided these constructs to several neighboring nations, especially those who were besieged by hostile powers. WBI combat constructs are usually produced without any traceable serial codes or icons, allowing the industry to continue selling and deploying its robots without the fear of having them traced back to them. WBI refused to sell its products to aggressive empires, though small breakaway factions have done so for the sake of profit, forcing WBI to hunt down and exterminate these rogue factions.

The factions of the Sauran Solidarity, most notably the Forces of Freedom and Protectors of Nature, played a very active role in the region. The Forces of Freedom fought against various tyrants and slave states in their efforts to bring about democratic reform and liberation, while the Protectors of Nature aimed at safeguarding the natural order from those who would destroy it for the sake of industry and profit. The Observers of Science and the Ascended, were also active forces, but for different reasons, the Observers focusing chiefly on relics and technology while the Ascended fought in the name of their gods.

For countless years the Rach explored the stars doing what they do best: thievery. Stealing from nations with whom they either had no relations with or considered enemies, the Rach would take these goods and sell them in the Undermarket, encouraging a large number of Rach to explore the galaxy in the hopes of making a fortune. As a result, the Rach came in direct or indirect contact with a large number of civilizations, including those that posed a very real threat both to the Rach as well as their neighbors. More and more Rach sought to assist those who were besieged by imperialist and xenocidal powers; initially, the Rach acted with subtlety, working from the shadows to provide assistance and sabotage the enemy. This quickly proved to be insufficient, leading to some wanting to take more drastic measures. However, many Rach, General Gorach, knew that the Rach military did not have the ability to fight in an interstellar conflict; they had neither the weapons nor the mindset for it. Coradine, the emperor at the time, also understood this, and believed that if the Rach were to survive, they would have to start taking bigger risks.

Destruction of the Seraphim Dynasty
The Seraphim Dynasty was one of the oldest of the Margan Dynasties alongside the Holy and Golden Blade Dynasties. They were best known for their grandiose theatrics and incredible egos; they truly saw themselves as divine beings, and believed that the Margan people had a glorious future ahead of them. This mentality carried over to the battlefield, where commanders would give their troops bombastic speeches and every conflict was viewed as a grand spectacle for all to see. Though zealously loyal to the Holy Goal for centuries, they began to stray from it when they noticed that lesser races were seeing them as literal gods and had begun to worship the Margan. Jisa, the Matriarch of the Seraphim, decided to allow these races to live so long as they served the Margan and paid them tribute. The Matriarch planned to exterminate the servants when the Margan's campaign of genocide came to an end, but for the time being, relished in the possibilities they brought.

When the other Dynasties discovered what the Seraphim had done, they were outraged, denouncing the dynasty for straying from the Margan's teachings. The Seraphim argued that the slaves were little more than temporary allies and that they posed no threat. The debate was settled when Li-Hosan, Matriarch of the Golden Blade, suggested eliminating the Seraphim before they went rogue. The Dynasties then all simultaneously attacked the Seraphim fleet, overwhelming them and leaving no survivors. When the Matriarchs confronted Jisa face to face, they offered her a chance to repent. She refused, and instead impaled herself on Li-Hosan's blade. The remains of the Seraphim fleet were left to drift through space, some of it falling unto nearby planets as artificial meteors.

The betrayal and subsequent annihilation of the Seraphim Dynasty did little to stifle the Margan's intense paranoia; in fact, it worsened it, as the Margan now knew that they not only had threats on the outside, but also within. Margan now face intense scrutiny if they show any signs of straying from the path, and in modern times, such individuals will more often than not be quietly killed by groups such as Confessors and the Mask of Ferivus.

First appearance of the Biomatter
Years before the onset of the war, the Biomatter Swarms made their first recorded appearance in the region when a spore of Hive Fafnir landed on a planet rich in biomass. The planet's inhabitants, unaware of the Biomatter's true nature, recovered samples from the then-dormant spore for study. Less than an hour later, the Biomatter became active, and rapidly overran the lightly defended colony. In the years that followed, more hives, most notably Apophis, Piru, Cronen, and Tiamat, would emerge in other sectors and infest colonies such as Qualiot, which had to be evacuated and bombarded from orbit. News of the swarms spread quickly, and nations began efforts to curtail the swarm's spread. Such operations were oftentimes met with limited success as the Biomatter were and remain poorly understood. Scientists attempting to study the swarms frequently ran into dead-ends, or worse yet, triggered an infestation. In one of the most famous examples, a Salatran research team recovered samples from the hives on Qualiot for research. The Biomatter escaped containment, infesting everyone in the building, but not before they could initially a site-wide lockdown. Rather than outright destroying the installation, the Salatrans used the facility's cameras and remotely-operated drones to monitor the Biomatter from outside. The information acquired from the incident would be later be passed along to the Anti-Biomatter Task Force.

Galderan-Naelkvan War and the Valdar Crisis
Almost three centuries before the start of the Great War, the Naelkva, an ancient civilization working to bring about a second golden age for their race, formed an alliance with the isolationist Valdar Directorate. The Directorate, which was home to a trove of ancient technology, had spent the past several years fending off neighboring powers who were competing with both the Valdar and one another for dominance. These battles had caused considerable harm to the Valdar's outermost territories. The Naelkva promised to restore stability to the region in exchange for technology, military cooperation, and total control over any territories they captured. The Directorate, which had little interest in territorial expansion and saw potential in working with an ancient race, agreed to the terms despite protest from those who feared the Naelkva's intentions. A short but brutal war followed in which the Naelkva swept through and conquered all of the neighboring powers save for the Ogvyr, who had organized themselves into the Confederation of Derahs to defend themselves. The Ogvyr fought the combined Vasldar and Naelkvan army to a standstill before the two powers negotiated a non-aggression pact, as the Naelkva needed troops to act as an occupation force in in their conquered territories, which would be organized into so-called 'vassal states'. But while the Ogvyr were initially content to be left alone, more and more members of the Confederation developed ambitions to overthrow the Naelkva, developing into a cold-war between the two powers.

This status quo persisted until roughly seventy years before the Great War, when the Empire of Galdera expanded into the region. Believing the Galderans to be a threat to their sovereignty, the Naelkva rallied their Valdar allies and client states to invade both the Galderans and the Confederation of Derahs. Though the Naelkva had the element of surprise and superior technology, the Galderan Empire had a significantly larger population and industrial base, which gave them a significant numerical advantage. The Naelkvan advance was halted and within a few years completely collapsed, allowing the Galderans to launch a counterattack into Naelkvan space. The Ogvyr also repelled the invaders some time later. These events spurred open revolt among the vassals. Bloody fighting continued for over twenty years until the Naelkva were pushed to their innermost colonies, during which the Valdar sued for peace. Fearing extinction for their species, the Naelkva surrendered. They were then forced to sign the Nakala Treaty, which required them to pay reparations to the victors, relinquish control over the vassal states, and limit the size of their military, among other conditions.

The next two decades would see tensions escalate between the Galderans, Confederation of Derahs, and the Valdar. The Galderans would spread their influence throughout the region and were met with resistance by the Ogvyr, who feared the creation of another imperialist superpower. The Galderan's religious devotion was another point of concern among the strongly atheistic Ogvyr populace. To curtail the Galderan's influence while avoiding outright hostility, the Ogvyr established the Coalition of Independent Nations, or CIN, which gave a platform for all nations in the region to resolve crises diplomatically; at the same time, it also contained a military branch, organized by the Ogvyr state of Feltis, which only accepted former vassals and Ogvyr. The Valdar suffered instability without and within. Internally, much of the populace had turned against the Directorate for their support of the Naelkva, increasingly authoritarian laws, and a return to isolationism, which many viewed as hypocritical and unrealistic. Beyond their borders, most in the Frontier had come to detest the Directorate for their support of the Naelkva.

Events came to a head when the reigning Galderan monarch, Empress Kazadair III, requested an audience with the Directorate's leaders. The council agreed to talks and allowed the monarch to come directly to Yulaira. In a series of talks, the monarch spoke of the empire's mission and the plans they had for the sector and its inhabitants. She claimed that the empire had no intention to take the sector by force, and that the Ogvyr were the true threat, a statement that many found reasonable, as Ogvyr states such as Feltis held unabashedly militant ideologies. As a result, the Directorate decided to hold a vote on allying with the Galderans the next day. This vote was interrupted by Councillor Levani'Desatha. Desatha had long been plotting to seize control of the Directorate to rid it of what she believed to be 'alien influences', but was forced to put her plan into action early due to Kazadair's arrival. the Councillor and her followers successfully took over the Council, but had underestimated the consequences of doing so; the nation almost immediately descended into civil war as states declared independence. One such state was the Zhagavian Republic, which declared its allegiance to the Galderans. Another state declared support to the CIN. Both nations used this as justification to send troops into the region. Unwilling to fight on two fronts, Levani forged alliance with the CIN and attacked both rebel and Galderan targets, starting hostilities between the empire and CIN.

Though the Naelkvan war had been incredibly destructive, the Galderans came out of the war stronger than when it had started. The Galderan Armed Forces was rebuilt from the ground up with new equipment, weapons, and vehicles, including powerful superheavy units such as Dreadnought and Assault class starships and the Gaulderog Armored Assault Fortress. The empire had also captured almost the entire eastern half of the Naelkvan Empire and with it many of its former vassals, namely the Renesat and Yin'vair. Billions of Naelkva, most of whom were civilians, had also been taken into the Empire. Though given the chance to return to their people, many decided to stay in Galderan space, with some even joining the military or having fought against the Naelkvan during the war. Despite this, Naelkva continue to be viewed with suspicion or outright hostility by some Galderan communities, though they are still statistically safer in Galderan space than they would be elsewhere. There remains a notable age-gap in how the war is perceived by the general populace. Older generations that recall the initial stages of the war have become wary of conflict and seek to avoid it whenever possible while younger individuals, many of whom had fought in the war after the Naelkva advance had been defeated, have become patriotic, believing that the empire can now overcome any challenge thrown at them. Thus, while many politicians and officers sought to avoid a war with the Ogvyr, their subordinates were more than willing to fight when the time came.

Magellan First & Second Stellar Wars
Following the conclusion of the long-lasting Magellan Unification War under the leadership of the young Emperor Zinmar, the Magello Empire would encounter local rivals in their initial stellar expansion. Their society having been founded on a tradition of warfare, it was only a matter of time before this rivalry erupted into war. The Magello would eventually emerge victorious two years into the war, crushing their rivals in a vicious and bloody war, expelling them from their homelands and creating a massive refugee convoy as the Magello set up new colonies on the charred remains of theirs. These refugees would take up residence as a member race of Aeveria.

With their military position secured, but coffers drained after fighting the First Stellar War, Zinmar pursued mercantile efforts as well as attempted to rebuild civilian industry. These pursuits led to the creation of numerous trade alliances and brought the Magello into the galactic community. However, the Magello would once more find themselves going to war as part of these entangling alliances. The Second Stellar War dragged on for years and evaporated the gains made in the past few years and what loot had been claimed in the First. Victory was eventually earned, bought with Magello blood, but Zinmar’s people were resentful that this war put the interests of another first instead of their own, and further attempts to improve international trade in the Empire floundered, despite the expenditure of the Second Stellar War. Still though, the three wars would create a strong military tradition and fill the ranks of the Magellan armies with hardened veterans. It also saw the rise of numerous popular war heroes, especially Captain Omard, whose great victories would capture the minds of the people and inspire the next generation.

Repzork-Nepharian Cold War
The Holy Nepharian Empire had spent the past several years spreading its influence throughout a sector of space inhabited by various nations that the Nepharians had been slowly converting into dependencies. The Nepharians provided the natives with weapons and technology in exchange for ancient relics. They also established migration routes through the region for Nepharians citizens. These efforts were disrupted when the Repzork began expanding into the region. Seeking to claim relics and territory for themselves, the Repzork provided the aliens with offers of their own and exported their culture and religion to turn the inhabitants over to their cause. Some were more than willing to negotiate with the Repzork due to disagreements or distrust towards the Nepharians. The conflicting ideologies sparked tensions throughout the sector which soon gave way to fighting, beginning a proxy war between the Repzork and Nepharians. But while the two are officially enemies, they rarely fight one another directly, with only small skirmishes for particularly valuable relics. Both governments deny that any conflict is occurring due to mutual benefit. Despite the tension, the Repzork often sell worthless artifacts back the Nepharians, allowing the Nepharian government to keep the peace within their own borders while providing the Repzork with funds.

Nevertheless, the Repzork still considered conflict with the Nepharians to be a real possibility. Several armadas were mobilized in case the two nations went to war, including the 14th, 277th, 355th, and 77th. A military modernization initiative was underway to update portions of the military, such as the navy, whose ships were, for the most part, outranged by the high-powered lasers of Nepharian ships. This led to the development of the first 'hunter killer' ships that would form the basis for imperial alpha-strike doctrines several years later.

Xeverran-Betel Conflict
In order to accelerate the construction of the Star Song, a dyson sphere designed to boost its own processing power and accelerate the reunification of the Xeverran nomad fleets, Galden deployed Xeverran troops into Betel space in order to claim the bountiful resources from their colonies. The Xeverra launched a series of small-scale raids on fringe Betel colonies to gauge their defenses before committing troops. These skirmishes prompted the reigning Betel High Chancellor, Nol Byervid, to create the Sky Spears, which quickly became the most advanced aspect of the Betel military. Regardless, the Xeverra continued to grow bolder as time passed, though they still remained a regional threat.

Kran Rebellion
A few months before the outbreak of the war, Nepharian general Phyla'kran, leader of the Kran, initiated a plot to take over the Nepharian government. She instigated a conflict between the Holy Nepharian Empire and the Wingle Union, eventually even dragging the IAE into the engagement. In response, the Wingle awoke Captain White, a war hero from the invasion of Athenousis, and assembled an elite team with the goal of crippling the Nepharian war effort. In the midst of fighting, the Kran faction, bolstered by an army of Ech0 walkers, rose up and attacked Nepharian, Wingle, and IAE colonies. An attempt was also made to assassinate leading figures in the Nepharian government, but was met with failure. The Nepharians and Wingle put their differences aside to combat the Kran faction, culminating in the death of Phyla'kran and the suppression of her rebellion.

The consequences of the Kran rebellion had far-reaching affects, particularly on the Nepharians themselves. Kran remnants would continue to harass loyalist forces for months afterward as the government worked to purge any who still sympathized with Phyla. Relations with the Wingle have gradually improved, but remain somewhat tense, and the two have since ceased working together. The Repzork gained a substantial lead in the ongoing cold war as the Nepharians were forced to divert most of their resources, some of which was destroyed in the ensuing conflict, elsewhere.

Repzork begin raiding Khasii colonies
After learning of the Khasii' bountiful wealth, the Repzork began launching increasingly large raids into Khasii territory to acquire their resources and technology. Though the Khasii boasted superior weapons and troops on many fronts, their army was far too small to take on imperial forces, forcing the Khasii to rely on large numbers of auxiliary troops to fight for them. Fighting rapidly bogged down as a result, though Repzork forces slowly regained the initiative as they intensified their efforts, leading to a number of successful attacks on Khasii settlements and the acquisition of many of the assets stored within.

Sauran liberate Zaretian slave colony
Sauran of the Forces of Freedom raided a sizeable Zaretian slave colony in an effort to free the prisoners. After a brief skirmish, they forced the defenders to retreat. But as they reached the slave holding area, they encountered the prisoners, who had managed to overthrow the guards and escape on their own, though it is unlikely that they would have been able to progress any further without the Solidarity's aid. The monarchy retaliated by declaring war on the Sauran and launching several probing attacks into Sauran space.

Appearance of the Margan
The first known appearance of the Margan in the local galactic sector occurred when troops of the Golden Blade Dynasty invaded a minor power that, though it put up stiff resistance, was quickly overwhelmed and wiped out by the vastly larger force. Soon after, the other dynasties soon appeared elsewhere, strip-mining any planets and exterminating all life that they came across. The sheer, uncompromising brutality displayed by the Margan sent a ripple throughout the region as word spread through survivors and witnesses. Many nations formed contingency plans in the event of a Margan invasion or were actively preparing to attack them, including some that would become Warlord powers in the months or years that followed. Some historians argue that it was at this point that the Great War became inevitable.

Founding of the Peacekeeper Alliance
After witnessing the devastation the Margan wrought on many worlds, the Rach sent aid to besieged nations and hampering the Dynasties' efforts by targeting their logistics and chain of command. While such operations were disruptive and spread paranoia through Margan ranks, they saw limited success at best. The Rach performed these tactics for several months with relative impunity, as the Margan were not accustomed to Rach tactics. During this time, some within Rach high command, most notably General Gorach, known best for his unorthodox strategies, noted that the empire's tactics were not working and called for a reform of the Rach military. His request went largely ignored, most officials, including Emperor Coradine, confident that Rach tactics were sufficient.

Rach fortunes took a turn when several of their operatives, including their ship and all of their equipment, were captured by Holy Dynasty troops while attempting to rescue a group of civilians during a siege. This allowed the Margan to identify their assailants, sowing the seeds for a rivalry that would span the next fifteen years. The Margan declared war on the Rach, the Holy Dynasty coming forward to lead the assault. But while information gleamed from the Rach's ship gave the Margan a vague idea of Rach space, they had trouble uncovering specific colonies, and saw constant harassment by Rach forces. Despite these difficulties, the Holy Dynasty advanced at an albeit slow pace, Rach colonies falling one by one in a war of attrition their military was not prepared to fight.

Though many within Rach high command remained reluctant to reform their doctrines, all agreed that they would need a more direct approach to take on the Margan; thus, they searched for allies. Delegates were sent to several neighboring nations, including the Aeveria Confederation, the Karahotdoum Empire, Warbot Industries, Sauran Solidarity, and the Wingle Union, to propose the formation of a coalition with the goal of defeating the Margan and protecting those that could not defend themselves. The Aeveria, Minomit, and Sauran pledged support, while the Karahotdoum, who had ongoing tensions with the Yami Trade Union, pledged financial and material support. The Wingle declined the Rach's offer, instead declaring that they would remain neutral. The new alliance, formally referred to as the Peacekeeper Alliance, assembled troops in preparation for its first move.

The newly-assembled Peacekeeper fleets launched a surprise attack against a Holy Dynasty fleet as they were in the process of strip-mining a system. The offensive was a rousing success for the fledgling alliance; the Margan were completely repelled, suffering considerable losses in the process. Peacekeeper forces followed up with subsequent attacks to similar results. Their success prompted previously wary minor powers to join the Peacekeepers either for mutual defense or to offer what support they could.

The Matriarchs of the Margan Dynasties convened in Holy Thereia to discuss their options. Seeing the rate at which the Peacekeepers were growing, the Matriarchs were forced to admit that they were incapable of winning the war on their own. Matriarch Hilda of the Orion Dynasty suggested forming a coalition of their own to fight the Peacekeepers. Initially, this was rejected, as it was viewed as a heresy tantamount to the Seraphim Dynasty. Hilda rejected this notion, stating that they could easily turn on their allies once the Peacekeepers were defeated. The debate came to an end when Matriarch Massachiah of the Holy Dynasty sided with Hilda, convinced that the Margan's only other option was the complete annihilation of their race. Matriarch Hilda was subsequently placed in charge of alien relations, and the Margan began searching for potential allies.

The Margan approached the Zaretian Monarchy, requesting an audience with King Breys to discuss the threat posed by the Peacekeepers. The Monarchy was initially hesitant, wary of the Margan as they were already aware of the Dynasties xenocidal beliefs. Breys only changed his mind due to concerns from the military, which feared that the Monarchy's ongoing war with the Sauran would see intervention by the growing Alliance. The two parties agreed to host talks on the Zaretian throneworld, Zartar.

Raid on Zartar
Zaretian rebels under the command of the exiled king, Moscassin, who had been supported by the Rach for some time beforehand, learned of the meeting through intercepted Zaretian transmissions. The rebels relayed this information back to the Rach, suggesting that they should intercept the meeting and kill both Breys and the High Priestess, preventing any chance of an alliance between the two powers toppling Breys' regime, allowing Moscassin to reclaim the throne and join the Peacekeepers against the Margan. Rach command carefully considered the proposal, but deemed it too risky, noting that failure would bring the Zaretian military, the largest in the sector, into the war. However, Emperor Coradine, without notifying his generals, deployed a team of special operatives to Zaretian space. With Moscassin's aid, the assassins, as well as a Stealth Tank, arrived on Zartar shortly before the meeting commenced.

The Zaretian capitol was under especially heavy guard on the day of the meeting; both participants brought a detachment of their most elite troops to secure the area, and a larger-than-normal garrison of Zaretian army troops were stationed in the area surrounding Breys' palace. The two leaders retreated to Breys' throne room to hold the meeting in private. While no transcription of what transpired has been made public, it has been reported that the meeting went off to a rocky start, with Breys expressing concerns over whether he could actually trust the Margan and believing that he could handle the Peacekeeper threat on his own. The Rach assassins, who waited a short distance away from the palace, launched their attack a few minutes after the meeting had started. The bulk of the operates moved to infiltrate the palace while the tank and a smaller detachment remained outside as a diversion. The diversion was short-lived as they were surrounded and eliminated by Zaretian forces within minutes. The main force successfully infiltrated the palace, but were met by royal guards, who subdued them at little cost to themselves. All but a few of the Rach were killed. The rest, including the leader, who reportedly had his jaw broken by King Breys, who punched him with his "Iron Fist of Payne", were captured and never heard from again.

The failed operation not only shocked and embarrassed Rach high command, who scrambled to uncover who was responsible, but it also backfired spectacularly. Just as the Rach had predicted, Breys, outraged by the Rach's attempt on his life, put aside his doubts and established a Pact with the Margan to safeguard their sovereignty and beliefs against the Peacekeepers. The Monarchy initiated immediate military mobilization as it formally declared war on the Peacekeepers, marking the beginning of what would soon be known as the Great War.

Having learned of Moscassin's role in the plot through the testimony of Rach prisoners, Breys stepped up his efforts to eliminate dissidents from within the Monarchy. Over the next several months, a vast number of suspected or confirmed rebel sympathizers, ranging from regular citizens to military and political figures, would be purged, with many being executed by the House of Sovereign.

Peacekeeper media soon referred to the alliance as the Warlord Pact. But rather than taking it as an insult, the two powers readily accepted it. To them, the term spoke of their ability to wage war, and the presence of strong, absolute figures at the helm that would not falter even when under intense stress, a sort of figure that weaker groups could rally around for guidance and protection. Thus, Warlord Pact became the official name of the alliance.

Pact members launched separate offensives against the Peacekeepers, each emphasizing different targets. The Zaretians committed most of their troops to the Rach, with smaller detachments being sent against the Sauran and the Aeverians. The Margan split their forces by Dynasty; the Holy, Golden Blade, and Reaper's Fist Dynasties to the Rach; Orion to the Aeverians, Hammer of the Divine to the Sauran, and Red Rose the to WBI.

Rach military forces were woefully unprepared for combined Zaretian and Margan assaults, which were on a magnitude of scale that they were simply unable to deal with. With most of their troops equipped with little more than pistols and their armor largely worthless for anything more than ambushes, Rach colonies fell swiftly as the Warlords swept through the Rach's outer colonies in vast numbers. Peacekeeper forces attempted to relieve the Rach, but found themselves bogged down. Only the Aeverians were able to assist the Rach in any meaningful capacity, but even with their support, Rach defenses were receding rapidly.

Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities, the Kelmir, militant Minomit who wanted to use their machines for conquest, approached the Pact to offer them an alliance. The Kelmir were also joined by smaller separatist factions who wanted to sell their Warbots to the highest bidder, regardless of what side they were on, and who felt that the Warlords would be more willing to pay. The Margan agreed to an alliance and worked to induct them into the Warlord Pact. The Minomit initially rejected induction due to lingering tensions with the Zaretian Monarchy, but agreed after receiving a promise that the Monarchy would leave them alone. Bolstered by Pact infrastructure, the Kelmir and separatists' machines went into full production and joined Warlord forces on the field as agents initiated terrorist attacks within WBI territory so as to hamper their logistics and demoralize them.

Karahotdoum Intervention
As the Great War was starting, the Yami Trade Union suffered a number of disasters that greatly hindered its ability to compete with the Karahotdoum. These included raids on its outer colonies and an infestation of Biomatter from hive Fafnir. This forced the Yami to sign a treaty with the Karahotdoum; in exchange for peace with them and the Peacekeepers, the Yami gave the magistrate several of its westernmost colonies. The Karahotdoum agreed, easing tensions between the two and allowing the Yami to redeploy troops that had been stationed in the Yami-Karahotdoum border sectors. In secret, the Magistrate was considering invading the Yami, but news of the Warlord's relentless offensives against the Peacekeepers had sparked outrage in the general populace, who pressured the government to provide military support to the Alliance. The magistrate voted to pledge military support, and mobilized its forces. Within two months, so many citizens had volunteered for service and so many weapons and vehicles had been produced that Magistrate logisticians were starting to lose track of it all.

When the Magistrate felt itself sufficiently prepared, they deployed their troops en masse against the Zaretians and Margan, providing beleaguered Alliance troops time to organize and fortify their positions. This came at a heavy price, as the Karahotdoum's first waves took grievous losses, particularly against the Margan, who were unfazed by the Karahotdoum's tactics of mass artillery fire and infantry charges. In fact, these tactics attracted the attention of the Reaper's Fist, who redirected their fleets to tie down the Karahotdoum, grinding their advance to a halt.

Station SRD72
Shortly after their entry into the Warlord Pact, the Saracin constructed a secret facility, designated Station SRD72, on one of their distant colonies. Disguised as a power station to avoid scrutiny, SRD72's main purpose was to study technology acquired from the Peacekeepers and to perform experiments on captured Alliance soldiers so as to discover biological weaknesses. The station was also used to coordinate Saracin efforts with the rest of the Pact, and therefore contained a trove of strategic data. Rach scouts discovered the facility, and the Alliance deployed a small task force led by General Gorach and Special Ops Lead Kertak to infiltrate SRD72, freeing the prisoners, and steal any information they could find. Though jammers prevented the Rach from landing near the base, Kertak and his men were able to bypass most of the Saracin's defenses and enter the facility. Gorach and his men were caught, but nonetheless fought their way inside, using a stealth tank to force their way through a wall. With the help of several prisoners they had freed, the Rach fought their way through SRD72's garrison and reached the computer mainframe, downloading all available data before setting the facility to self-destruct and evacuating. As they had hoped, the Rach had recovered confidential information on Warlord operations, as well as technical documents regarding Pact vehicles and weapons, all of which was passed along to the rest of the Alliance. Unfortunately, the Saracin warned the Pact of SRD72's destruction, causing Warlord commanders to modify or cancel their plans, rendering much of the strategic data moot. But the most important find was one that deeply troubled the Rach: the Zaretians had, through an unknown agent, discovered how to reach Norsus, and were now coordinating with the Margan to disable the planet's stealth generators, opening it to an invasion. Believing a traitor to be in their midst, the Rach began an internal investigation to uncover the turncoat. To keep morale high, this information was hidden from the public, but was shared among the ranking officials of the Alliance, some of whom doubled their efforts to protect Rach space.

Battle of Zetta Secundus
In addition to giving them time to reinforce their positions, the Karahotdoum's offensive also gave the Alliance time to plan their first major counteroffensives. The Aeverians took initiative, focusing in a region of Rach space known as Zetta Secundus, which was on the brink of collapse after weeks of attacks by Zaretian forces. Rather than engaging the Monarchy directly, the Aeverians planned to flank Zaretian positions and disrupt their logistics, which would force the Zaretians to withdraw to defend their assets. A modest force comprised of the 371st, 482nd and 16th fleets were assembled for the task; though some officers wanted to dedicate more ships, all other available assets were tied up on other fronts, and the Alliance could not risk redeploying them elsewhere.

At the onset of the operation, forces within Zetta Secundus were ordered to hold their ground while the Aeverian fleets moved in. With the Monarchy distracted, the flanking maneuver was a success, and the Aeverians eliminated several of the Monarchy's forward-bases. When word reached Zaretian officers within Zetta Secundus, they turned their fleets around and counterattacked. Though the Zaretians outnumbered the Aeverians four-to-one, they were completely disorganized, with some fleets not coordinating with the rest. As a result, ships flew piecemeal into the Aeverian firing line. Combined with the Aeveria's advanced subspace engines and long-range beam weapons, for which the Monarchy had no counter, the Zaretians were completely routed, suffering catastrophic losses while most Aeverian casualties were in damaged ships that could be repaired.

The Zaretian defeat at Zetta Secundus was the first major setback for the Warlord Pact. Due to the number of ships lost, the Zaretian front collapsed, forming a breach that forced both the Saracin and Margan to retreat in order to close it, ceding captured territories in the process. The Zaretian admiralty board, having learned a hard lesson about the flaws in their doctrine, began the process of completely overhauling their navy. For the Peacekeepers, it was a much needed boost in their morale, particularly for the Rach, and became immortalized in Peacekeeper media as the 'Miracle in Secundus'.

Repzork Intervention
Though not in an official alliance, the Repzork had maintained friendly diplomatic relations with the Zaretian Monarchy for the past twenty years, the two powers having signed onto a non-aggression pact and occasionally exchanging technology and resources with one another, but otherwise avoiding interference in the other's activities. News of the Raid on Zartar reached the Marshal's Council via Zaretian channels mere minutes after the Monarchy's declaration of war and moved the generally distant Council to consider supporting the fledgling Warlord Pact in its fight against the Peacekeepers. Proponents for intervention believed that defeating the Peacekeepers to be an important step to securing regional supremacy and were concerned about having to fight alone were the Pact to lose. They were also concerned that the Holy Nepharian Empire would join the Alliance in the near future, and saw membership in the Pact as a potential equalizer. Opponents were first and foremost skeptical of the Margan Dynasties, as were most throughout high command, though it was soon concluded that were the Margan to betray the Pact, it would most likely be after the Peacekeepers were defeated, at which point the Margan would be the only remaining target. A few felt the war to be the Monarchy's, and believed that the empire should continue to devote its attention to the ongoing cold war. After lengthy debate, the Marshal's Council voted 4-2 to join the Pact.

The Repzork spent the next several months mustering troops and monitoring the conflict. The Pact's early victories gave some officers the impression that the war would be brief; as a result, the empire did not mobilize all of its assets, instead taking armadas that had already been mobilized for the cold war, namely the 14th 'Helia's Thunder', 355th 'Purity's Test', 77th 'Saertu's Gaze', and the 150th 'Fire Hammers'. Initially, Imperial Command planned to open fronts against the Karahotdoum, Aeveria, and Warbot Industries, but following the Battle of Zetta Secundus, command cancelled their plans for WBI, opting to instead focus their efforts on the two major powers, with the 77th and 150th focusing on the Karahotdoum while the 14th and 355th engaging the Aeveria. Once prepared, the Repzork approached the Pact and declared their intention to join. Still reeling from Zetta Secundus, the Pact readily accepted the empire. Repzork troops were first and foremost sent to areas near Zetta Secundus, and would play an important role in closing the gap created by the Monarchy's defeat.

Magellan Intervention
At the onset of the war, the Magello Empire found itself divided. The general populace, opposed to the Peacekeeper's stated goals and longing for a fight, pushed for the government to join the Warlord Pact. Likewise, much of the government and high command also pushed for war due in part to many organizations and peoples that had condemned the empire for the atrocities it had committed during the First and Second Stellar Wars had joined the Peacekeepers and now had the power to take action against the Magello. But Emperor Zinmar and Captain Omard, along with a small group of supporters, opposed intervention. They had come to regret the empire's past actions and believed that joining the war would see those atrocities repeated once more. Though they did fear Peacekeeper retribution, the Warlord's early advances combined with the Karahotdoum's blunted offensive led Zinmar and Omard to believe that the Peacekeepers would soon collapse, and that as a result, the Magello would not have to take action. Winmar and Omard's views were challenged by the Battle of Zetta Secundus, which showed to them that the Peacekeepers had a real chance of winning the war. This in turn led to public and government officials pushing harder for Zinmar to take action. Fearing the possibility of a coup and left with no other options, Zinmar approached Warlord leaders to declare his people's support for their cause. The Pact accepted the Magello, who sent troops under the command of Omard to territories that had been lost following the Pact's defeat at Zetta Secundus. Though small compared to most other armies, the seasoned Magellan troops, combined with Repzork attacks elsewhere, successfully repelled the Peacekeepers and were instrumental in the Pact regaining the initiative. Due to their efforts, Zetta Secundus itself soon fell under Pact control.

Though Emperor Zinmar would publicly display support for the Warlords and their cause, his decision took a toll on him that worsened as time went on, culminating in the emperor falling into a state of depression as more Rach colonies were razed. The emperor isolated himself, keeping close to supporters such as Omard while gradually sliding from the public spotlight. This did not go unnoticed by Pact officials, who kept close tabs on the monarch to watch for any signs of insubordination.

Acropolan-Conkirite War
News of the Alliance's victory at Zetta Secundus stretched well beyond the boundaries of the war, catching the attention of many nations, most notably the Acropolan Republic and the Conkirite Empire. Once close allies, the two had been at war ever since a coup that had resulted in a tyrant taking control of Conkirite society. Both sides were evenly matched, and were seeking out ways to turn the tide. Following Zetta Secundus, the Acropolan reached out to the Peacekeepers, offering them economic and material support in exchange for help against the Conkirite. The Alliance promptly accepted their offer. When the Acropolan proclaimed their pledge to the Alliance, the Conkirites retaliated by reached out to the Warlords, offering the Pact what was at the time much needed resources in exchange for support. Like the Peacekeepers, the Pact agreed, and the Acropolan-Conkirite War became a front of the Great War. But even with the support of the two greater powers, neither the Acropolan nor the Conkirite were able to attain a clear advantage over the other, and the war remained a stalemate.

Luminarian Schism
Prior to the Great War, the Luminarian Empire rapidly expanded its borders, subjugating many empires and emerging as the hegemon in their region of space. In order to provide for the military, the Luminarian Empire enforced conscription on the frontier worlds. With the weakening of the Empire Military, many in the Frontier Worlds agitated for autonomy from the Empire, with then Emperor Baryoto, in an attempt to prevent a civil war from breaking out, allowed. This led to a tenuous peace between the Inner Worlds and Frontier Worlds of the Luminarian Empire.

However, with the unexpected ascension of Emperor Ulran, a hard line purist, disrupted the balance. Six months into his reign, Ulran ordered the destruction of the planet Midale, a major trading and diplomatic hub for the various Frontier factions. Attempts by the then Frontier Navy to repel the Empire forces ended in failure and the planet was reduced to ruin. This incident caused the Frontier Factions to unite under the rebellion's flag and declared war on the Empire, starting the Luminarian Schism.

The Schism would see multiple major battles and smaller skirmishes between the two powers. Both sides would see a huge upsurge in technological advancements, especially the Rebels, who were being assisted by the Aeveria economically and technologically. It would be during the Schism where the first Battlestation was deployed and utilized.

Three years after the declaration of war, the two powers were exhausted and nearing their breaking points, with a final attempt at ending the war, the rebels conducted a last ditch effort, striking the Luminarian home planet, Luminaria, with their remaining forces. However, it would not be enough to force the Empire to surrender and instead an Armistice was signed. As a result, the Luminarian Schism has technically not ended yet.

The Schism had left the Luminarian Rebel's military in tatters, resulting in them being unable to join the Great War for the next two years.

Infestation of Ozelion
Though the Biomatter were becoming a mounting threat as more hives were uncovered and more planets gradually succombed to the swarm's spread, the Great War stole the attention of most major powers, who believed the Biomatter to be a serious threat only to thinly-defended outer colonies. This view would begin to shift when a derelict frigate seeded with a Tiamat spore crashed on the Minomit colony of Ozelion. Having landed in a dense tropical forest, the Biomatter had ample biomass to establish a sizeable nest. Nearby settlements were evacuated as Warbot forces established a quarantine zone around the colony and prepared to contain the swarm while reinforcements were en route. Over the next several hours, the Warbots were pushed back to their final line of defense, but help arrived just in time to prevent a breakthrough. Air power pushed Tiamat back to its nest, which was subsequently bombarded from orbit, ending the infestation.

Though not the first time a Biomatter infestation took place on a planet held by a great power, this particular infestation gained attention due to rumors among Peacekeeper media sources speculating that the Warlords were responsible for the attack among. The Warlords denied such rumors, and a subsequent investigation proved their innocence, claiming instead that the spore originated from a nearby infested planet. Later on, spores would appear on other worlds, but most were swiftly repelled, perpetuating the belief among the great powers that the Biomatter were not a big enough threat to devote a large amount of resources to, though some officials would begin to have a change in heart as time progressed.

Invasion of Aserai
In the year following their humiliation at Zetta Secundus, the Zaretian admiralty had reconstructed much of their navy with brand new warships, tactical doctrines, and technology. Among the long list of improvements was a new FTL drive known as the Sprint Drive, a multi-core subspace engine that was capable of rapid maneuvers through subspace. The Sprint Drive was a result of the admiralty's efforts to counter the Aeveria's powerful beam weapons, which had proved to be the Monarchy's bane during and after Zetta Secundus. Combined with improved navigation, Zaretian warships were now capable of appearing out of subspace in front of an enemy vessel, unloading a volley from their guns, and then retreating before the enemy could retaliate. Some outsiders even speculated that the improvements allowed Zaretian vessels to tenuously plot multiple subsequent jumps through subspace, though whether this is true remains unclear. Though many in the admiralty board were eager to get revenge on the Aeverians, the Monarchy decided that rather than risking a direct assault on the border blockade, they would instead attack the Dragoneteran Monarchy, a relatively small interstellar nation that was near Aeverian space that had recently pledged material and monetary aid to the Peacekeepers. The Monarchy believed that this would elicit an Aeverian response and allow the admiralty board to observe the resulting confrontation. The 3rd, 15th and 20th fleets, which had recently completed the refit, were sent to Dragoneteran space. The 15th and 20th stayed in reserve while the 3rd engaged the orbital defenses around Aserai. Part of the fleet jumped right into the Dragoneteran's rear flank, forcing ships from the front to turn around, opening the forward flank to the rest of the 3rd fleet, which swiftly swept through the defenders. Having attained orbital superiority over most of the planet and having no intention of holding it, the 3rd fleet began indiscriminately bombing cities and industrial centers on the surface.

The Dragoneterans sent out a distress signal, which as anticipated, caught the attention of the Aeverians, who sent the 27th fleet to assist. While en route, the 27th was intercepted by the Zaretian 15th and 20th fleets, and was forced to withdraw to the border blockade after a brief but fierce engagement. Shortly thereafter, a combined force of Rach and Aeverian ships were sent, and after several hours, finally repelled the monarchy from Aserai. Though arguably a Peacekeeper victory, the Monarchy saw it as a success as it showed the merit of their new doctrine. Additionally, the assault on Aserai crippled the Dragoneterans economically and militarily. Much of their army and navy now laid in ruins, and it would take years to rebuild the damage dealt to Aserai's population centers. Regardless, the Dragoneterans remained defiant, and officially committed troops to the war effort following the attack, though due to their small numbers, they played only a minor role in the Zaretian front, with no action elsewhere.

Infestation of Dralix
The Dragoneteran colony of Dralix had ceased communication with the rest of the Monarchy during the assault on Aserai. With all available forces focused on the core worlds, there were no available ships to investigate the blackout, which was believed to have been caused by the Zaretians. Anticipating to find the colony in ruins, a small force was sent to Dralix followiong the retreat of Pact forces. Scans of Dralix's surface revealed that it had not been attacked by the Zaretians, but had instead been infested by Biomatter of Hive Apophis, which had enveloped much of the planet. Search teams were deployed across Dralix's former settlements to search for survivors, but within hours, they all disappeared. A number of ships subsequently attempted to leave, but were shot down after they did not respond to communication requests. One of the search terms eventually reestablished contact with command, explaining that they had flown too close to the ground and were pulled down by tendrils and needed immediate evacuation. A group of special operatives were sent down to retrieve them, and after fighting through several waves of Biomatter, the search team reached them and were extracted.

Initially, Dragoneteran high command wanted to bombard the planet so as to purge the infestation. But the king vetoed their decision, deciding instead to establish a permanent garrison around the planet so that the Biomatter could not escape. Samples taken from the surface were to be used for research into how the Biomatter functioned and how it could be eliminated.

Necraal Sovereignty
Though the Zaretians were primarily focused on the war, they were still expanding their reach elsewhere, albeit slowly, in an attempt to claim more resources to meet the growing demands of their military. During one of their many expeditions, the Monarchy was intercepted and promptly contacted by a Necraal fleet, who demanded to know why the Monarchy had entered their territory. Though some in the Zaretian fleet wanted to attack what they viewed as arrogant interlopers, the commanding officer ordered them to stand down and opted for diplomacy, not wanting to start what could have potentially been a new war front. The officer assured the Necraal that they were unaware that they had intruded and that they neither had the intentions nor the manpower for an invasion. The Necraal reluctantly believed the officer, and the Monarchy shortly thereafter established formal diplomatic channels with the Sovereignty. In the ensuing weeks, the Monarchy would work to convince the Necraal to join the Warlord Pact. King Breys invited King Hor'or to Zartar to discuss the arrangement, and spoke of the threat the Peacekeepers posed to Hor'or's imperialist ambitions and those of his Modernists allies. Breys also convinced the king that, were the Peacekeepers to win, the Shamans that once controlled Necraal society could very likely come back to power and establish a pacifist government, one that would bend to the demands of those such as the Aeveria. Not wanting to see the Necraal once more at the mercy of outsiders, Hor'or offered his full support to the Pact and formally declared war against the Peacekeepers.

Most Necraal troops were deployed against the Karahotdoum and the Aeveria, as they were viewed as the greatest threats. But while they proved themselves a crucial asset to the Pact, there was a distinct cultural clash between Necraal troops and those of the rest of the Pact. Many were troubled by some of the more disturbing aspect of their allies, such as the Monarchy's acceptance of slavery and the Repzork's practice of ritual sacrifice. Even as they were fighting for what they saw as the security of their empire, such practices sowed doubt as to whether they were truly on the right side, which would lead to some troops to defect to the Peacekeeper Alliance. A few of the defects would go on to reveal valuable technical and tactical information to the Alliance.

Elsewhere, some of the old Shamans, outraged by the Necraal's entrance into the war, tossed aside their pacifist ideals and became vigilantes. Viewing themselves as nature's judgment for the Necraal's sins, they operated terrorist cells throughout the Sovereignty, bombing both military and civilian targets alike in their crusade to break down the Modernists and usher in a new Shaman age. Though some believe that the vigilantes support the Peacekeepers, this is in fact not the case, as they have themselves declared that they support no side but their own.

The Necraal's admission into the Pact also captured the attention of the Kelmir, who became fascinated with the Sovereignty's mechanized walkers. The Kelmir collaborated with Necraal engineers, producing new and sometimes better Warbot models than those used by their Peacekeeper-aligned counterparts. These new machines initially saw use alongside Necraal forces, but they eventually become a common auxiliary force in many Warlord fleets.

Dragoneteran-Tegotian War
Several months after the Zaretian assault on Aserai, Dragoneteran captain Delarus went missing while investigating what was reportedly an unidentified vessel adrift in space. After days of inconclusive searches, officials received a distress signal originating from the homeworld of the Bulorians, a young interstellar nation that had only recently established its first colony. A small rescue team was sent to investigate and soon located Delarus, who had been hiding in the outskirts of a largely abandoned Bulorian settlement for the past three weeks. The captain explained that the ship had actually been a trap set by an alien race known as the Tegotians, radical isolationist who attacked the captain because he had accidentally entered their territory. Deloran's vessel crash landed, leaving him the sole survivor. A few days later, a Tegotian invasion force arrived, swiftly defeating and enslaving the Bulorians, though not before the defenders were able to send a distress call. The Dragoneterans went to acquire intelligence on the occupation force but were soon discovered, forcing them to evacuate. Their findings were reported back to the Dragoneteran government, which while still in the process of rebuilding, had a strong desire to free the Bulorians and get revenge against the Tegotians for attacking Delarus. The Monarchy amassed what forces it could and launched an offensive at the Bulorian homeworld. Though the Tegotians correctly assumed that the Dragoneterans would attack, they were defeated and driven off-world, leaving behind the now liberated Bulorians. Enraged by the Monarchy's interference in their affairs, the Tegotians left their self-imposed isolationism, declared themselves allies of the Warlord Pact, and mobilized for war against the Dragoneterans. With major powers on both sides focused elsewhere, the Dragoneterans and Tegotians were left to fight on their own with little outside help. Lacking the troops to protect all of their colonies, the Dragoneterans focused their defenses on Aserai and the surrounding core worlds. Outer colonies were either evacuated or defended by small units that harassed Tegotian invaders through guerilla tactics. The Tegotians, unaware of the previous attack on Aserai due to their isolation, were puzzled by the lack of resistance, but took the initiative, pressing their attack in the hopes of concluding the conflict before outsiders could intervene. In an attempt to stall them, the Dragoneterans devised an unorthodox plan. A sample of Biomatter was retrieved from Dralix and then synthesized into an airborne virus that was deployed at one of the Tegotian's forward operating bases by Davoran. The virus proved to be far more potent that anticipated; the Tegotians were completely overwhelmed, and the resulting infestation managed to capture a small number of ships that then spread to nearby worlds, a few of which were former Dragoneteran holdings. The Monarchy attempted to cover up its involvement in the incident, but word soon reached the rest of the Peacekeepers, who harshly rebuked the Dragoneterans for what were seen as reckless and dangerous actions. The Aeveria were especially vocal, as they now had to deal with an infestation uncomfortably close to their borders. The Monarchy attempted to defend its actions, stating that it did not have the means to fight the Tegotians conventionally, but this did little to convince its angered allies. Under pressure from the Alliance, the Dragoneterans destroyed all remaining samples of the virus. The attack was successful in stalling the Tegotians for several weeks, giving the Dragoneterans time to prepare for future attacks. But they were forced to discard their plans when the reigning monarch unexpectedly died. Troops were redirected to Aserai to bulk up security as the king's successor was crowned. Tegotian spies discovered the proceedings, and the Empire deployed what most analyst can only describe as its entire military to Aserai, hoping to cripple the Dragoneteran military and government in one fell swoop. The Dragoneterans responded in kind, recalling all of their troops to the homeworld, resulting in the largest confrontation between minor powers in the war. Though the Tegotians initially held the upper hand, Dragoneteran special forces dealt several decisive blows to the Tegotian chain of command. Unbeknownst to them, many of the officers killed were also political figures back in the mainland. Thus, as the military chain of command fractured, so too did the political body. Dragoneteran reinforcements were later able to encircle the Tegotian fleet, preventing them from maneuvering or escaping. Ultimately, the invading force fractured and fell apart, allowing the defenders to sweep through and capture stragglers. Now without an army and lacking many of its leaders, the Tegotian Empire collapsed into chaos as splinter factions arose to take advantage of the situation. Dragoneteran forces stepped in to help restore order, and with the help of the Aeverians, a Peacekeeper-aligned government, the Tegotian Republic, was established. With their main focus being rebuilding, the Tegotians formally withdrew from the war, though they are still required to pay reparations to the Dragoneterans for the conflict.

Though oftentimes overshadowed, the Dragoneteran-Tegotian war held political and military implications for both sides of the war. It was the first time that a belligerent is known to have weaponized the Biomatter, and serves as a cautionary tale as to why it is far too risky even in the most dire circumstances. Following the victory at Aserai, the Alliance held a meeting to discuss the matter and formally agreed to ban the use of the Biomatter as a weapon, declaring it a war crime. Many wanted to charge the Dragoneterans, but since the rule did not exist at the time, and because the resulting infestation only harmed military personnel, the Monarchy narrowly avoided charges, but as well as destroying their remaining samples, they also had to destroy all research relating to the program. The attack was and still is frequently featured in Warlord propaganda to demonize and paint the Alliance as hypocrites. For the Peacekeepers, it also set a precedent for how defeated Warlords were to be treated. For the Warlords, it showed that they would need to cooperate more closely if they were to win, otherwise they would be picked off one by one.

Infestation of Rotunin and the founding of the Anti-Biomatter Task Force (ABTF)
Rotunin was an extensively urbanized corporate colony located in neutral space that had been established almost a century prior to the start of the Great War. Making deals with both the Warlords and Peacekeepers and possessing little strategic value, the colony had been able to avoid the ravages of the war. Despite this, the world was still well-fortified, possessing its own private military and an expansive orbital defense grid capable of holding its own against an invading force. Rotunin's defenses, along with its neutral status, made it a popular location for refugees and runaways to seek asylum. Unfortunately, Rotunin's sense of security was shattered when a derelict carrier seeded with a Biomatter spore was detected approaching the planet. The orbital defenses engaged the carrier, which charged ahead despite being severely damaged. The vessel broke apart in orbit, producing a shotgun-like affect that spread wreckage-and Biomatter-across the densely packed megalopolis. Rotunin erupted into chaos as civilians attempted to evacuate, but this only made them easy prey for the Biomatter, who developed into a vast hive that overran the defenders in a matter of hours, forcing the survivors to abandon the planet, which was bombarded into a lifeless state a few days later.

Word of Rotunin's fall spread quickly through both Peacekeeper and Warlord media. It was and remains one of the most destructive infestations in known history, leading to the deaths of much of Rotunin's civilian population and the infection of potentially dozens of nearby systems via captured starships. Prior infestations had predominantly occurred on outer-rim worlds with small populations and minimal defenses, leading most to believe that the Biomatter were not a serious existential threat, a notion that had now been proven to be a severe miscalculation. Peacekeeper leaders called for a meeting to discuss the matter, and after a few days of deliberation, declared the destruction of the Biomatter to be a part of their mission. Pooling their resources together, the Alliance established the Anti-Biomatter Task Force, or ABTF, a specialized multi-racial task force that had the task of studying and exterminating the Biomatter wherever they appeared. While officially a Peacekeeper organization, the ABTF accepts members and donations outside of the Alliance, save for those associated with the Warlord Pact.

The Warlords did not create their own specialized task force, but many Pact members did begin developing means to combat the swarms, often creating their own specialized units in the process. Certain Warlord powers, notably the Repzork, Necraal, and Magello, established strict policies forbidding their troops from engaging ABTF and other Biomatter taskforces without a justified cause. Copy-cat task forces mimicking the ABTF sprung up in many locations across neutral space, but without the funding or manpower of the ABTF, most dissolved, and only a small few have managed to rise to prominence.

The Skrey
Having recently been unified under one of the more progressive great clans, the Skrey invaded an isolated Minomit colony, hoping to claim some of the Minomit's technology for use in their military. Though Warbot forces were technologically superior to the invaders, most of their troops were fighting elsewhere, leaving few to defend against the brutish and aggressive Skrey, who came at them in vast numbers. Having been backed into a corner, the Minomits surrendered, and the Skrey allowed them to live so long the Minomits paid taxes in the form of resources and equipment. Shortly thereafter, the Skrey invaded and conquered the Minomit colony of Cawmuth, a vital hub for the technology industry. Their steady advance into Minomit space caught the attention of the Repzork, who began monitoring the Skrey to determine whether an alliance was feasible. Elsewhere in Skrey space, spores originating from Hive Cronen landed on Skrey colonies, starting with an arid colony where the outpost of Heatwave was located. Like many before them, the Skrey were overrun in their initial engagements, but due to the shoddy and primitive nature of most Skrey starships, the Biomatter had a difficult time commandeering vessels without breaking them, slowing their spread. The Repzork, seeing an opportunity, stepped in, offering to help the Skrey deal with the infestation. Though initially wanting nothing to do with the intruders, Skrey officers begrudgingly agreed, opening the door to diplomacy between the two races. Repzork officials got in touch with the leading great clan and offered them a deal. The Skrey would become a member of the Warlord Pact and join in the war against the Peacekeepers, which through their attacks against the Minomit, they were at war with either way, and the Repzork would ensure that the great clan would remain in power as long as they remained loyal to the Pact. The great clan agreed to the terms, and the Repzork and Zaretians promptly sent the Skrey weapons and equipment as well as 'peacekeeping forces' to help the clan enforce its rule. Many Skrey, particularly those of rival clans, initially opposed the decision to join the Pact, but were swayed by promises of glory, weapons, land, and an expansive propaganda campaign that painted the Peacekeepers as a bigger threat.

The Skrey were found to have great potential, as their sheer strength and durability made them excellent shock troops and heavy weapons specialists. But only a few of the great clans possessed the logistics and ships necessary to deploy and supply troops on the scale needed for the war; additionally, due to the dim-witted nature of the average Skrey, they only understood basic tactics, and had little to no mind for grand strategy. This necessitated Repzork and Zaretian officials stepping in to fill the void. They devised doctrine for the clans and provided the necessary logistical support. As a result, Skrey seldom fought on their own, instead acting as an auxiliary force to Warlord fleets. They were most often dropped right on top of Peacekeeper positions via orbital drop, allowing them to wreck havoc and soften the defenders before Pact forces moved in to eliminate what remained.

Operation Stormbreaker & the Asanian Syndicate
With more and more of their colonies falling under Warlord control, the Rach became desperate in their efforts to turn the tide. Though officials such as General Gorach continued to call for a complete overhaul of Rach military doctrine, the Empire instead focused on finding more nations that would rally behind the Peacekeeper cause. A number of minor powers had been found and recruited, but they lacked the manpower or resources to push back the Pact's advance. With the Zaretians having gained considerable ground following their success at Aserai, the Rach expanded their search and considered nations that they would have otherwise left alone. It was during this time that explorers discovered the Empire of Diablos. The Diabloian's impressive military and honor-bound culture appealed to many within the Alliance, but others were skeptical, finding their thirst for battle and general demeanor off-putting. They also feared about the possibility of betrayal and the impact the Diabloians could have on the Peacekeeper's Public image. Ultimately, it was Gorach, with the full support of Aeverian High Command, who broke the tie, convincing the Alliance that the Diabloians could be instrumental in turning the war around. Those who still disagreed begrudgingly fell in line shortly thereafter.

A diplomatic envoy was sent to Diabloian space to open negotiations. The empire provided the diplomats a warm reception and, to the surprise of a few of the diplomats, were more than willing to talk. In the ensuing meeting, the diplomats explained the Great War and the precarious position the Alliance, especially the Rach, found themselves in. They also provided information on the Warlords and the various atrocities that they had committed prior to and during the war. The Diabloians were moved by the Peackeeper's plight, but were more eager for a fight with what they now saw as both worthy and dishonorable opponents. They readily joined the Alliance and dedicated the Outer Fleet, under the command of Admiral Korsair, to the war effort. After three months of planning, the Peacekeepers initiated Operation Stormbreaker, an ambitious offensive with the goal of repelling Pact forces across all fronts and force the Warlords to surrender. Acting as the vanguard, the Outer Fleet struck first, their shock tactics and unprecedented combination of armor and firepower overwhelming the Warlords and punching several holes in their front lines, allowing Peacekeeper forces to move in and attack exposed positions and logistics infrastructure. Pact forces were devastated by the combined assault, suffering more casualties in the first few weeks of the offensive than at any previous point in the war. Thousands more troops and vehicles were also captured, most having been encircled and cut off from help in the chaos of the opening battles. Now faced with the real possibility of Peacekeeper troops spilling into their territories, Pact leaders ordered their troops to withdraw to more defensible positions, with the exception of the Margan, who instead launched a suicidal counterattack to cover their allies' retreat. Using what time they were given, Warlord troops dug in, preparing to hold their positions as they awaited reinforcements and supplies. As the Sauran wing of Stormbreaker was advancing, one of their fleets came across a world that was in the process of being strip-mined by an unknown alien race. The Sauran admiral, a devout member of the Sustainers of Nature, ordered his men to deploy to the planet, of which 20% of the surface had been rendered uninhabitable, to put a stop to the alien's operations. A small strike team was deployed to disable an anti-air battery so that the main force could land. The guns were destroyed, but the aliens retaliated almost immediately and in vast numbers, pushing the Sauran back to their landing zone. Unable to advance and at risk of being overwhelmed, the Sauran activated a distress signal which caught the attention of a nearby Diabloian task force, which moved to support the Sauran. The Kastalians, who had been silently monitoring the situation, also intervened. After another round of fighting, the combined Peacekeeper assault successfully repelled the aliens from the planet. The aliens, calling themselves Asanians, vowed vengeance against the intruders, warning the Peacekeepers that their mistake had cost them their future. Less than a week later, Margan troops of the Orion Dynasty attacked a distant Diabloian colony to draw Diab troops away from the front. Margan forces under the command of Archon Chora landed outside of one of the colony's settlements but ran into abnormally stiff resistance. Undaunted, the Margan continued their advance until they reached the settlement, only to learn that it had been destroyed by the Asanians, who were also invading the planet, and unbeknownst to the Margan, had been monitoring their progress since their arrival. A brief skirmish took place as the Margan indiscriminately attacked the few Asanians still in the colony. After the Margan had eliminated what remained of the Diab's defenses, the Asanians approached the Margan, inviting Archon Chora to an undisclosed location within the colony's capital discuss a potential partnership, as while the Asanians themselves were wary of the idea of an alliance, they saw many similarities between themselves and the Margan, and believed that an alliance could benefit the Syndicate. Chora, despite the suspicions of some of those under her command, agreed to speak, and took a small force with her while the rest of her troops stayed behind to engage targets elsewhere. Talks progressed rapidly, with Chora and the Asanian representative agreeing to formalize an alliance and induct the Syndicate into the Warlord Pact and join their fight against the Peacekeepers, the Asanians viewing Alliance ideologies as a threat to their own. Their discussion was interrupted when Diabloian troops arrived in force and stormed the city. Chora and the representative escaped, though Warlord forces were soon driven off of the planet.

Margan and Asanian forces continued to engage the Diabloians both in their own territory and in contested space for weeks before they were finally repelled. Once more able to commit all of their forces, fighting resumed in earnest as the Diabs made another push. Warlord commanders did everything they could to slow down the Allies; vehicles had been fitted with more powerful guns and extra layers of armor while soldiers were provided more heavy weapons. These efforts saw limited success, and once more, the Diabloians broke through, though they were beginning to quickly lose their momentum. Fighting on multiple fronts, harassment from the Margan and Asanians, and the speed at which they had advanced within the first few months of fighting had put mounting strain on what was now a fragile logistics network. Likewise, though they had dealt heavy blows to Pact forces, they had taken considerable losses of their own, and most troops had been replaced by less experienced recruits, resulting in a loss of tactical capability. Taking a page from the Margan and Asanian's efforts, Pact commanders significantly altered their strategy. For much of the war, the Pact, though sharing resources and technology, had been fighting independently, with little direct support from the rest of the Pact unless the need called for it. This allowed the Pact to cover more ground in the opening stages of the war, but with the Diabloians, it became clear that this strategy was now holding them back. They instead combined their forces and modified their doctrines to work off of each other. This first became obvious in the naval war. Margan forces would engage the Diabloians first, acting as a shield for the Necraal and Repzork. Zaretian ships, helpless on their own against Diab starships, remained in the back line, using their long-range rail cannons until a Diab ship became vulnerable, where they would then move in, deal the death blow, and fall back. On the ground, Citadel Walkers, ST-47 Oltavars, Titans, and recently introduced Zaretian Brutes worked in unison, halting the advance of the once unstoppable Diabloian army. The Pact also adopted some of the tactics of the Rach, deploying small, specialized units, such as the Repzork's newly-developed Vatanis-class frigate, to hinder and disrupt the Diab's already-strained supply lines.

With their logistics at the breaking point and casualties mounting at a quickening pace, the Peacekeepers ordered a halt to Stormbreaker, their troops retreating to more defensible positions until the strategic situation improved. The failure of the operation saw a sharp drop in Peacekeeper morale, with some Rach going as far as to say that the war was utterly hopeless. The Warlords used the opportunity to build their troops back up and prepare their next move.

While the Asanians had played what many viewed as a vital role in causing Operation Stormbreaker to fail, their inclusion into the Warlord Pact was not without controversy. To some, namely the Repzork, Necraal, and Magello, the Asanians could not be trusted due to their extreme aggression and xenophobia. Like the Margan, they were seen as temporary allies, and thus, would almost certainly become a problem after the war. Some took solace in the Asanian's hyperactivity, believing that their system was unsustainable and that it would collapse upon itself before the Syndicate could become an issue.

Year Five: Operations Sledgehammer & Downfall
The Rach had been largely uninvolved in Operation Stormbreaker. Though they still provided intelligence and harassed Pact positions, their military was near the brink of collapse and was incapable of large-scale offensive operations. Most troops had stayed behind to guard what remained of the empire, hoping that Stormbreaker would bring an end to the war. But with the operation's failure and Peacekeeper forces in full retreat, the Rach were now exposed, and the only thing that stood between Norsus and the Pact was the stealth generators scattered throughout the inner-rim colonies that concealed the Norsus system. But Rach command, with the knowledge attained from Station SRD72 years prior, knew that it was only a matter of time before the generators were targeted. If they were to fall, Norsus would be revealed, and the empire would undoubtedly be wiped out.

Two weeks after the Peacekeepers had retreated, High Priestess Massachiah summoned Pact leaders to Holy Thereia to discuss the fate of the Rach. Despite the losses from Stormbreaker, the Pact was eager for vengeance, and had retained more than enough manpower to launch a counterattack of its own. The Warlords initially planned to launch an overwhelming assault targetting the Rach, aiming to bring down the stealth generators and Norsus in one swift blow that would essentially 'decapitate' Peacekeeper leadership. But this plan was soon rejected as, while most believed the operation would be successful, it would invite immediate retaliation from the rest of the Alliance, leading to potentially catastrophic losses. It was also felt by some that eliminating the Rach would not entirely cripple the Alliance, and therefore, the assault had to be larger in scope.

Weeks of planning would lead to the development of the two-phase offensive, Operation Downfall. The first phase, code named Sledgehammer, would see the largest mobilization of Pact forces since the start of the war. These troops would be deployed in one vast offensive targeting the most powerful members of the Peacekeeper Alliance and would have the goal of tying down Alliance forces and causing as much death and destruction as possible, essentially 'bleeding' the Peacekeepers dry of materiel and soldiers while forces operating in Rach space hunt down and eliminate the stealth generators in what would be code named suboperation Pierce the Veil. Once the generators were eliminated, the second phase, Downfall, or the invasion of Norsus, would be commenced. Much to the disapproval of much of the Pact, Massachiah declared that the attack on Norsus would be carried out by all Margan Dynasties as a means of ensuring that the Rach were wiped out and that the event would be remembered as a grand, bloody spectacle throughout the galaxy.

For Operation Sledgehammer, each front was divided into "wings" that each focused on a separate target. Each wing was accompanied by a Margan Dynasty.


 * Admiral Kiryusa Luok, General Varthos, Commandant Scy'the, and Generals Alo'Kizan and Ni'Vola would be deployed against the Aeveria.


 * General Siveris Halz and Admiral Xatka Yuvaki, Commandant Var, Grand Beyir Yalacin, War Chief Bhatuzorig, and General Apulon would be deployed against the Karahotdoum. While the bulk of Skrey forces would be deployed here, each wing of Sledgehammer retained an auxiliary Skrey force.


 * Lord Atlas, General Likana Raldalvi and Admiral Vilotr Akuru, Captain Omard, and General Iliva would be deployed against the Empire of Diablos.


 * Datyl Vexen, General Ganos, and Markila Farshot would be deployed against the Sauran Solidarity.


 * Crown Prince Bael'thir Anduish'ent'mar and General Turos would be deployed against WBI.


 * Generals Gancarda, Peacha, and Azakiah would would be deployed against the Rach.

Roughly four months after the end of Stormbreaker, Sledgehammer was initiated with the Pact launching each wing simultaneously.

Assault on the Aeveria Border Blockade
The Aeveria Confederation presented a unique problem to the Warlords. Throughout the war, few large-scale attacks had been carried out against the Aeverian mainland. This left them as the most militarily powerful Peacekeeper, with more than enough experienced reserve units to defend their territory and to support Norsus in the event of an invasion. In order to sufficiently tie the Aeveria down, the wing needed to be both vast in size and quick in movement so as to breach the blockade before a proper defense could be established. Thus, the Aeverian wing became the largest naval armada in Sledgehammer, comprised of fleets from Golden Blade and Holy Dynasties, Repzork, Necraal, and the Zaretians. There was also a debate as to whether or not the Pact should attempt to hold any territory it captured or if it should instead bombard any and all colonies so as to deny the Aeverians resources. Given the Aeveria wing was seen as having the greatest chance at failure, it was decided that any and all settlements were to be bombarded, and few if any ground forces would be committed unless deemed necessary. Pact forces first attacked Aeverian frontier worlds that were outside the protection of the blockade. Varthos and his fleet, aiming to make up for the Monarchy's embarrassment at Zetta Secundus three years prior, spearheaded the assault from his Galaxy-class battleship, Varthos' Fist. The general's forces, with overwhelming numbers and firepower, overpowered local Aeverian militia fleets and subsequently bombarded civilian and military targets alike. They also captured a small number of stations that would be repurposed to provide logistical support to the Pact, including Fukushima Station. Unable to stem the tide, Aeverian militia forces focused on evacuating as many civilians as they could and retreating deeper into Aeverian space. The 47th, 290th, and 195th Aeverian fleets were dispatched from the blockade, but with the Warlords advancing rapidly and numerous worlds falling under siege, they were unable to launch a counterattack, instead devoting their resources to assisting the evacuation effort. This gave the Pact time to establish a supply line in preparation for the next phase of the assault. Once the frontier was under their control, the Warlords initiated their attack on the Border Blockade, launching attacks against several key positions. As the assault was underway, ACI, with the use of the blockade's sensor network, pinpointed the location of the ZMS The Shitfest, a Majesty-class mobile shipyard, which was acting as the backbone for Varthos' logistics network. Due to the speed at which Varthos' had advanced, the ship, which was making frequent subspace jumps across the front, had to take brief pauses in order to recharge its drives, which gave ACI a roughly ten minute window of opportunity to attack. With most of their assets damaged or deployed elsewhere, the Aeverians sent out 1st CRUSRON and several figher escorts to engage the shipyard, which was protected by a small entourage. The Shitfest was heavily damaged during in the ensuing engagement, but managed to escape back into Zaretian space, where it would remain for several months while it was repaired. The loss of the ship crippled the Monarchy's logistics, and King Breys, angered that Zetta Secundus had been repeated again, called Varthos back to Zartar for questioning. With their flagship gone and their logistics in ruins, the Zaretians pulled out of the region, turning over their captured Aeverian stations to the rest of the pact. Though a blow to the Warlords, the Zaretian's withdrawal did little to slow down their advance. Pact forces continued to besiege the Blockade, engaging anything and everything they came across in well-coordinated strikes. During one notable attack, Repzork and Margan forces engaged Aeverian forces at Rhea Station, a regional headquarters for Blockade vessels. The Aeverians defended the station against waves of Pact ships, including numerous bombers and the HLC Korani. During the attack, Admiral Kiryusa Luok, operating from her flagship, the HLC Xelvalder, had been rapidly jumping her ship from location to location, a number of Aeverian vessels in pursuit. The Xelvalder eventually arrived at Rhea station and destroyed the MK1 Skybound cruiser, the AS Vatican. Luok, after being engaged by her pursuers, then warped back to Fukushima Station. Rhea Station survived the assault, but at the cost of over twenty warships and nearly sixty nearby orbital facilities. Luok efforts, though they damaged the drives on her ship, temporarily drew Aeverian forces away from other fronts and allowed Pact forces to plunge deeper into the blockade.

Fighting continued in and around the Border Blockade throughout Operation Sledgehammer, concluding only a week before Operation Downfall when the Aeverians enacted a desperate gambit in a last-ditch attempt to deal a decisive blow to the Pact. Across the region, Aeverian assets withdrew en masse. Believing that they had finally broken through the blockade, the Pact advanced into the Aeverian mainland. In truth, several Aeverian fleets were moving to flank and encircle the Warlords. Once they were in position, the Aeverians closed in and engaged the Pact from all directions. What followed was the largest and bloodiest naval battle in Operation Sledgehammer, with both sides suffering enormous casualties in the span of a few hours. At the height of the battle, General Alo'Kizan concentrated all of his forces on a weakened portion of the encirclement, breaking through and allowing the rest of the Pact to escape at the cost of himself and Firewing Fleet, which was destroyed to the last ship. Warlord forces retreated from Aeverian space, but not before destroying the orbital stations they had captured during the frontier assault.

Though an Aeverian victory in that the Blockade still stood, the assault is considered a strategic victory for the Warlords as it had achieved its goal of distracting the Aeverians and dealt a serious blow to the Confederation, which would take years to recover from the damage.

Invasion of the Karahotdoum Empire
Throughout the war, though the Repzork and Reaper's Fist had been able to hold the bulk of the Karahotdoum empire at bay, they had been unable to advance very far themselves up until Necraal troops under the leadership of Commandant Var arrived. With the Margan and Repzork holding the line, Necraal shock forces scored several victories against the Magistrate. But the Karahotdoum were finally able to punch through the Warlord's defenses during Stormbreaker, and even after the Peacekeeper retreat, managed to retain some of the territory they had captured during the offensive. Sledgehammer's goal for the Karahotdoum wing was to reclaim the lost territory, reestablish a defensive line, and deal a blow to the magistrate's logistics. To achieve this, the Kara wing focused heavily on shock and awe tactics and mechanized warfare.

With Titans acting as a vanguard, the Necraal and Repzork engaged the Karahotdoum directly, General Apulon establishing a back line from which the Margan would continually pelt Karahotdoum positions with biological weapons. Eventually, the Margan paused their bombardment, giving time for both Grand Beyir Yalacin and War Chief Bhatuzorig's forces to drop directly on top of the Karahotdoum. The assault shattered the Karahotdoum's front-line within a few weeks of fighting, forcing them to retreat back to their pre-Stormbreaker positions as Pact forces advanced. The Warlords pushed the initiative, with Var, Yalacin, and Bhatuzorig pushing through gaps in the Kara's defenses while the Repzork and Margan kept the bulk of their troops tied up at the front. Striking at their supply chains, the Pact cut off Karahotdoum forces from the rest of the Magistrate, leaving them stranded. Some surrendered or were captured, but many instead fought to the death or were slaughtered in the ensuing skirmishes.

With the Karahotdoum's forces scattered, the Pact turned its attention to the mainland. Numerous colonies were first bombarded with Reaper plague munitions, sometimes severely weakening the defenders before ground forces moved in to secure the planet. This method slowed the advance, much to the annoyance of Bhatuzorig, but was undeniably effective, especially in the first few months of fighting, during which a number of colonies were captured or reduced to poisoned, crystallized wastelands. Fighting continued throughout the Magistrate's outer colonies and into the middle rim until the activation of Operation Downfall, when Warlord forces retreated to defensive positions.

Invasion of the Empire of Diablos
Though the Empire of Diablos had depleted itself during Operation Stormbreaker and was in no position to deploy any major offensives anytime soon, the Pact still considered the Diabs to be a potentially significant obstacle in invading Norsus and took a proactive view towards them, aiming to cripple their efforts in the war before they could organize another attack. Additionally, many within the Pact sought revenge against the Diabs for the blood spilt in the previous months. To these ends, with the exception of Captain Omard, the officers selected to lead the Diab wing of Sledgehammer were those who were seen to be capable of fighting the Diabs on equal footing with little to no regard for collateral damage or civilian life. The officers planned to "bleed Diablos dry" by launching a multi-pronged offensive into Diab space and establishing a foothold from which future offensives could be deployed deeper into Diab territory. So long as the foothold remained, the Diabs would be forced to devote troops to contain it, diminishing the empire's offensive capabilities. After some reconnaissance, the officers decided to attack a region of Diab space that was contributing a large number of recruits and material to the Outer Fleet. Pact forces made contact with the Diabs around the urbanized colony of Sevethos, and soon after at Alvainos, Neheldos, Sakanos, and other outer-rim settlements. The Warlords obtained orbital superiority over much of Sevethos and Alvainos and landed troops before the bulk of the Diab's forces arrived. Sevethos was hardest hit by the first wave, with the Repzork employing an Ikatan Platform and the recently-developed ODV-3 Vasekar. Warlord forces made rapid gains across most fronts, but suffered an embarrassing setback at Alvainos, where the Diab's subterranean settlements gave them a distinct advantage against invaders despite being significantly outnumbered. Such events did little to slow the Pact advance, and most colonies hit by the first wave would fall in the weeks and months following the opening assault. As Pact forces advanced onward, reserve troops moved in to establish fortified positions.

The offensive converged upon the world of Baltreos, a highly developed colony considered to be a sort of capitol for the surrounding region. Having had time to prepare, Diab forces put up fierce resistance which was met with equal aggression by the Pact. Both sides poured a significant amount of troops into the engagement, which largely consisted of street-to-street and room-to-room fighting as Pact forces advanced through Baltreos' dense urban centers. In an attempt to divert Diab attention, the Pact attacked the nearby world of Falkeos, which acted as the nerve center for Diab military forces in the area. But while Falkeos experienced a prolonged crystal bombardment by the Margan, Diab forces successfully held unto the planet, though the diversion was sufficient for the Warlords to finally capture Baltreos in the process. The planet would become the Warlord's headquarters for their efforts in the sector.

The loss of Baltreos and the chaos at Falkeos severely weakened local Diab forces. But the Pact was nevertheless halted after suffering a major setback at Veos, where the Diabs crippled the Repzork's Ikatan Platform, forcing imperial forces to scuttle the vessel. With Diab resistance stiffening and the Rach's defenses crumbling, the Pact initiated a strategic withdrawal back to the foothold before they spread themselves thin, but not before bombarding Diab colonies with crystal and conventional munitions as they retreated. The Diabs chased the Warlords and attempted to repel them from the foothold, but were forced to withdraw after weeks of bloody and fruitless fighting.

Invasion of the Sauran Solidarity
The Asanian Syndicate and the Margan both had a strong desire to eliminate the Sauran Solidarity as they saw the Sauran as the antithesis to their very way of life. When the Sauran wing of sledgehammer was being planned, the Asanians petitioned to spearhead the assault, causing some irritation with General Ganos, who had been leading the Sauran front for most of the war. The Margan, seeking to further prove the Syndicate's worth to wary allies and confident that a combined assault could devastate the Solidarity, supported the Syndicate. Frustrated, Ganos decided his forces would engage a second front with the Solidarity while the Asanians and Margan opened a second combined front elsewhere.

The Margan and Asanians slammed into the Sauran's defenses, who were not prepared for the Syndicate's forces. As the Solidarity redirected fleets to the front, Ganos struck, breaching a hole in the Solidarity's now thinned defenses. Asanian and Margan forces dug deep into the Sauran's outer colonies, indiscriminately destroying everything in their wake and killing civilians and soldiers alike. With the Solidarity focusing most of their efforts on the combined assault, Ganos focused on capturing and holding colonies to establish a new foothold within Sauran space; though some of those captured by Zaretian forces would be brought back to the Monarchy as slaves, most were instead executed to satiate Ganos' temper. When Operation Downfall was initiated, the Zaretians ended their offensive, pulling back into their newly captured colonies. The Syndicate, meanwhile, continued to engage despite the Hammer Dynasty relocating to Norsus.

During the invasion, the Sauran were contacted by representatives of the Repzork Empire, who requested an audience with representatives from the Council of Aradan on the remote neutral colony of Sethyr. The Solidarity reluctantly accepted, and sent Na'dak and Commander Lunéss Zru, who were met by Ambassador Orva. The Ambassador explained that the Repzork were intent on eliminating both the Margan and the Asanian Syndicate once the Great War had concluded, and that the Repzork sought to acquire the Sauran's advanced terraforming technology in exchange for offering the Sauran safe refuge from their enemies in the event that their empire collapsed, though with the implication that they would become a client state in the process. The Marshal's Council, whom Orva referred to as his 'benefactors', planned to use the terraforming to undo the damage the two Warlord powers had caused to 'Oltavar's Grand Design' and that the capacity to undo the Margan's work would serve as a trump card in the eventual conflict.

Invasion of WBI
By this point in the war, Warbot Industries was in rapid decline. The need to not only replace their losses, but also to expand their forces to support the Alliance, combined with colonies having been lost to Pact forces throughout the war and growing harassment from increasingly emboldened Kelmir had put tremendous strain on Warbot Industries' economy, which was unprepared for the sheer scale and length of the war. Unrest rose as a few officials called for the Minomits to formally withdraw from the war and sue for peace so that they could rebuild. Others shifted their allegiance to the Pact, either to ensure their own safety or because they felt that the Peacekeepers had let them down. Desperate, Warbot Industries had deployed the vast majority of its remaining Warbots during Operation Stormbreaker, only for the bulk of them to be destroyed as the operation drew to a close, dealing a crippling blow to their economy as they were now close to depleting their available resources. Due to a mixture of his seniority and influence from King Hor'or, Crown Prince Bael'thir Anduish'ent'mar was given overall command of the Warbot Wing. Though the prince publicly took the position with dignity, in private he was irritated, as he sought to prove himself worthy of the throne by earning glory on the battlefield, particularly against the Karahotdoum. Hor'or, wanting to keep the crown prince safe, instead put Commandant Var in charge of the Karahotdoum front. Bael'thir felt that fighting the weakened Minomits would be insufficient to proving himself. Making the best of his position, Bael'thir resolved to not only defeat the Warbots, but to utterly devastate them to the point that they would be unable to continue fighting in the war. He devised a bold plan to have Turos' forces invade the Minomit homeworld of Oruin while his forces assaulted the Minomit's inner-rim colonies.

Turos struck first. With most of Warbot Industries' forces focused in surrounding colonies, Oruin's orbital defenses were quickly overrun and the Margan made landfall, focusing their attention on the desolate planet's terraforming stations. As WBI forces arrived in the system, Bael'thir's forces moved in, and combined with the Margan, encircled and eliminated a large portion of WBI's remaining naval fleet. With orbital superiority achieved across much of the region,the crown prince initiated his attack on the core worlds, and was later joined by Turos once the campaign on Oruin was complete. Mining and production centers were bombarded first, cutting off WBI's flow of machines. With most unable to fight on their own, the Minomit were helpless, and most either died or were abducted by the Necraal to be brought back to the empire. The rest attempted to flee to the other Peacekeepers, though some of the ships were intercepted.

By the end of Operation Sledgehammer, WBI had been reduced to a few scattered and disorganized colonies. Oruin was once more an uninhabitable husk, the inner-rim had fallen to the Pact, the bulk of the population was now gone, and the military was reduced to a few scattered pockets of resistance. Bael'thir had been planning to hunt down and eliminate the remaining resistance when Downfall was initiated, prompting him to maintain his current position. Though lauded as a major success by the rest of the Pact, Bael'thir was criticized by the Kelmir, who had wanted to overthrow and take over WBI society. The crown prince silenced some of his critics when he promised to help the Kelmir build a new home for the Minomit once the war had ended.

Operation Pierce the Veil, the Magellan Insubordination, & Operation Downfall
Shortly before Sledgehammer commenced, General Gorach was given the task of defending Norsus' stealth generators. At the time of his appointment, the situation was dire; the generators' defenders were both undermanned and ill equipped even by Rach standards, many of their troops and resources having been spent in the war. Correctly concluding that an attack on the generators was imminent, Gorach collaborated with Commander Cloudreaver, leader of the Skyborn Legions, as well as various Alliance officials to completely overhaul the generator's defenses into what informally became known as the "Gorach-Cloudreaver Line". Gorach relocated most of the generators' original garrison, most of whom had seen little combat, deeper into Rach territory and had them replaced with veteran soldiers, particularly those who agreed with Gorach's unorthodox methods and felt that the Rach's traditional style of fighting was insufficient. The general was also granted a number of auxiliary battalions from the Peacekeepers, and despite the controversy, employed a small number of former Pact soldiers who had defected to the Alliance and who had pledged to protect the Rach from the aggression of their former masters. A number of Kastalians also stepped forward to help. Likewise, due to the dwindling number of Rach weapons and armor, Rach soldiers were predominantly equipped with Alliance weapons and armor as well as equipment stolen from the Warlords during Operation Stormbreaker including, most notably, two Zaretian citadel walkers, which were each deployed at separate generators. Pact defectors acted as consultants when able, teaching their new allies on how to best make use of their equipment. The auxiliaries were to act as the main line of defense, establishing fortifications and engaging threats directly while Rach forces stationed in strategic positions harassed, flanked, and ambushed invaders. At the onset of Sledgehammer, Pact forces were unaware of Gorach's reforms, and believed that the generators would be protected only by what remained of the Rach's military. As a result, the Rach wing of Sledgehammer was the smallest, with only the Margan contributing a substantial number of troops, the Zaretians having sent the bulk of their available forces to the other wings. The Rach wing was also comprised chiefly of troops trained and equipped specifically to counter traditional Rach strategies. Due to their limited numbers, the wing's commanders decided to attack the generators one at a time rather than all at once, so as to not spread their numbers thin and leave their logistics vulnerable to harassment. The Pact first grew suspicious during the opening engagements, during which a varied array of Peacekeeper vessels were defending the planet when the Warlords had expected other Alliance forces to be focused on their own respective fronts. After breaching the Alliance's defenses, Pact forces landed on the planet, and ran headlong into the Gorach-Cloudreaver line. The combination of Rach harassment, Skyborn jumps, auxiliaries, and both Pact and Alliance armor elements and weapons caught the invaders by surprise, leading to the near-total annihilation of all Warlord forces in the first wave. Unable to bombard the planet due to the presence of anti-orbital guns, the Pact was forced to commit to a ground assault. Through sheer attrition, the Margan were able to establish a safe landing zone, allowing Warlord forces to slowly advance towards the generator. Despite mounting casualties, the Pact reached the generator, but were forced to withdraw when they encountered one of the stolen citadel walkers, Kastalians, and an expansive network of fortifications. Unable to advance much further, the wing retreated to defensive positions and requested reinforcements. With the aid of extra troops, most of which originated from the Holy Dynasty, the Pact was finally able to break the Alliance's defenses and eliminate the generator. Surviving alliance forces fell back to the other generators, the Warlords following in pursuit. The other generators would soon fall under attack, and while Gorach employed every tactic and element he had, the Warlords, through nonstop attacks, continued to slowly advance towards their target. Days after the destruction of the second generator, General Gorach was contacted by Emperor Zinmar. Though Gorach expected the emperor to gloat, Zinmar was instead offering the beleaguered Rach his support, as while the Magellan populace at large firmly supported the Warlords, Zinmar, Captain Omard, and others had only grown increasingly ashamed of their actions, and were now driven to act before the Rach were entirely wiped out despite the risk of Warlord retaliation. Unable to provide direct military support due to Omard being deployed in Diabloian space, Zinmar offered to construct new stealth generators for the Norsus system. In exchange, the Magello would join the Peacekeepers, receive Alliance support, and be pardoned for their past atrocities. Gorach, with Coradine's backing, approved the deal, and Zinmar deployed a team of engineers to begin construction of the generators deep in Rach territory.

Shortly afterward, the third generator was destroyed, and a large number of prisoners were taken by the Zaretians. General Gorach, along with Special Operations Lead Kertak, deployed with a small team behind enemy lines to rescue them. Due to their limited numbers, Kertak employed the use of the "fear mist", nanites that combine together to form manifestations of a target's deepest fears, to disorient the Zaretian garrison. Though it was successful, the mist also affected some of Gorach's men before dissipating. Gorach, not waiting for the affected soldiers to come to, marched ahead on his own, single-handedly fighting his way through the Zaretians. Before he could reach the prisoners, Gorach was intercepted by General Gancarda, who engaged the Rach in a duel. Gorach attempted to convince the Knight of Zartar that the war was going to consume the Monarchy, but Gancarda remained undeterred, declaring that it was the Rach who had started it. The two were at a stalemate until Gancarda, enraged by Gorach's statements, drove his blade into Gorach's shoulder. It was then that Kertak and his men, as well as a number of Skyborn legionnaires, intervened, driving Gancarda away and rescuing the prisoners before evacuating on the battleship, Karadin. Due to injuries sustained in the fight, Gancarda was relieved of command and given time to recover, his position being taken over by High General Vipenite.

With the Gorach-Cloudreaver line gradually unraveling and the Warlords inching closer to the homeworld, Gorach returned to Norsus to demand that Coradine grant clearance to the Rach's most powerful weapons as part of a last-ditch effort to turn the tide. Emperor Coradine denied Gorach's request and ordered the general to leave his office. Furious, Gorach forced his way into a secret chamber housing the Veteran Warsuits, Rach who had served in past conflicts and who had pledged to continue serving the empire by having their bodies entombed in advanced battlesuits after having been grievously wounded in battle. The general awakened the veterans and explained the situation. As he did, alarms roared throughout the city, and communications became jammed with panicked officers declaring that the Norsus system was now visible. Gorach and the veterans raced back to the surface, only to be attacked by a squad of Margan. Entering Coradine's office, they found that the emperor was gone, and that the royal guards had all been killed by Margan. The lone survivor, a sniper who had entered moments prior to receive a promotion, explained that Coradine had killed one of the guards and fled with the invaders. Upon reading over files left behind on Coradine's desk, Gorach discovered that the emperor had deactivated the remaining stealth generators and gave the location of Norsus away to the Warlords, leaving the Rach entirely exposed and nullifying the efforts of the Magello, who had not yet finished the first generator. Furious, Gorach cleaved the desk in two and declared himself emperor, his first decree being to grant clearance for everything the Rach had left in order to protect the homeworld. What remained of the Gorach-Cloudreaver line subsequently fell back to Norsus. With Norsus revealed, Operation Sledgehammer came to an end, and Operation Downfall was activated. Pact forces that had been attacking the generators immediately made way for Norsus, as was the fleets of the Margan Dynasties. With the Alliance battered and bloodied from fighting, only the Kastalians, Aeverians, and Diabloians were able to send troops to reinforce Norsus, but the Aeverians were intercepted on the way there. The Diabs could have been intercepted by Magellan troops, but Captain Omard, hoping that the Alliance could beat the odds and hold Norsus, allowed the Diabs to pass unimpeded, explaining to the Pact that he had no knowledge that they had mobilized. This was political suicide for Omard, whose once excellent reputation among his people was immediately destroyed. Omard was recalled to Sculpterra and replaced with a new official. Publicly, the reason was for questioning, but in private, Zinmar was attempting to protect the captain from retaliation. With the whole of Margan civilization and a Warlord armada on course for Norsus, Gorach was forced to concede that Norsus would be impossible to defend. Thus, instead of organizing for a defense, he began the process of evacuating the planet. Civilians were led to vast exodus ships hidden beneath the planet's surface while the planet's defenders prepared to buy them time with their lives. Within hours, Warlord ships started streaming into the system, and fighting broke out throughout Norsus' atmosphere as the Pact attempted to bomb the surface and deploy troops via drop pods. As Warlord forces were beginning to make planetfall, Diab reinforcements arrived, and drew much of the Warlord's attention away from the homeworld. But while the Diabs were able to buy the Rach more time, the combined might of the Margan Dynasties, whose vast numbers had blocked sunlight from reaching the planet, was on the verge of completely overwhelming the Peacekeepers.

With no way to break the siege or to escape, Gorach entered into the depths of the Rach's laboratories in a desperate search to save his people. Scientists then directed the emperor to a chamber containing a large device that they claimed opened a portal to a realm they referred to as the "Warp". Coradine had a keen interest in the dimension, and had been studying it in secret, despite the reluctance and concerns of many of his advisors and cabinet members. With no other available option, Gorach activated the device, which opened a continent-sized tear in reality that led straight into the depths of the Warp. Though reluctant, Gorach ordered all Rach to retreat into the portal. The Diabs, the remaining Veteran Warsuits, and scattered Rach forces volunteered to defend the portal while the Rach escaped, despite knowing that they would almost certainly die. Enraged that the Rach may escape, the Margan deployed all of their forces to the portal's source in an effort to close it. The defenders fought to the last, buying just enough time for the exodus ships and what remained of the Rach navy to escape into the Warp. The Margan, in a move that shocked their allies, kept the portal open and charged headlong into the tear to give chase to the Rach. The portal closed as the last of the Margan's ships entered the tear, and both the Rach and Margan empires disappeared from the galaxy.

Aftermath
As the shadow of the Margan armada dissipated and surviving Peacekeeper forces withdrew from the planet, the expansive damage dealt to Norsus became clearly visible. The once proud skyline had been reduced to ruins and was dotted with dozens of starships that had crashed during the battle. The rolling blue plains had been burned to ash, and the oceans had been polluted and discolored. Thousands of corpses littered the streets alongside the husks of armored vehicles. With the Peacekeepers having withdrew and both the Rach and Margan lost in the Void, Norsus, as well as most former Rach colonies, fell under the control of the Zaretian Monarchy. The Monarchy established a token garrison on Norsus whose main goal was to scour to desolate ruins in search of anything valuable that had survived the battle.

Operation Downfall was not the decisive action that would determine the outcome of the war as many on both sides had believed, but it nevertheless had drastic ramifications. The Peacekeepers had been badly mauled by Sledgehammer and would requite time to recuperate and reorganize. Their leaders, the Rach, were gone, and Warbot Industries was practically destroyed, their only effective fighting force comprised of little more than a small fleet within Aeverian space. Days after the Battle of Norsus, the remaining Peacekeepers convened to discuss the future and decide new leadership for the Alliance. Some suggested the Diabs due to their powerful military and honorable ideals, but Admiral Korsair rejected the offer, not wanting to be, as he himself described it, "Tied down by bureaucratic lunacy". The admiral instead suggested the Aeveria Confederation, which he considered to be much more familiar with working with aliens and organizing alliances. In the ensuing vote, the Aeveria received an overwhelming majority, and was subsequently declared the new leader of the Peacekeepers. The Aeveria immediately set to work, shifting the Peacekeeper's goals from its ideological origins of protecting minor races to ensuring the survival of the Alliance and defeating the Warlord Pact.

The Pact had been planning to press their advantage after the Battle of Norsus and resume their offensive against the Peacekeepers, but without Margan support, which had been crucial during Sledgehammer, these plans had to be cancelled. The Pact instead focused on consolidating their new holdings. The Marshal's Council's first action was to issue Mandate 527, which declared that the Repzork were to maintain their positions within Diab and Karahotdoum space at all costs as part of an effort to 'contain' the two nations. The Council also redeployed some of its forces and mobilized more armadas for the war. The 14th and 355th armadas, after having replenished their losses from the Aeverian offensive, were sent to Diab space, their position on the Aeverian front taken over by the 843rdth armada, "Vindication of Blood". The Zaretians moved Vipenite to the Karahotdoum front and Gancarda to the Diab front to support Lord Atlas. Crown Prince Bael'thir, having proved his capabilities during his offensive against WBI, was sent to the Aeverian front. Tor'vath Alth'met'ker, who had made a name for himself on the Karahotdoum front under the command of Var, was promoted to Commandant and was sent to the Diab foothold. In the Dynasties' absence, Warlord leadership fell upon the Zaretian monarchy.

Emperor Zinmar attempted to cover up his plot to assist the Peacekeepers, but he was outed by Warlord-aligned officials who had wormed their way into the stealth generator construction facility while Downfall was underway. In retaliation, both Repzork and Zaretian agents infiltrated Zinmar's palace and confronted the emperor, who attempted to defend himself but was swiftly subdued. Both Omard and Zinmar's son were captured; Omard, whose true intentions in allowing the Diabs to bypass his forces were made public, was publicly executed by a firing squad, his standing with the Magellan populace having been entirely erased. Zinmar's son was taken to Alrukai to be groomed into a Warlord-aligned monarch by Emperor Zervath. Zinmar's betrayal was kept secret, but he became a puppet of the Marshal's Council, and if he attempted to cross the Warlords again, would face Omard's fate. In the weeks that followed, Magellan officials who had supported Zinmar and Omard would be hunted down and eliminated by Repzork and Zaretian agents.

There was a month-long period following the Battle of Norsus during which no major offensive operations were undertaken by either side, the Warlords partially due to their redeployments and the Peacekeepers because of a need to build their forces back up. The only notable exception was that of the Asanian Syndicate, which continued its attack on the Sauran Solidarity. But without the support it had previously, they slowly began to lose their momentum in the face of increased Sauran resistance.

Dissolution of WBI & Project Relevance
The Minomits were quick to capitalize on the lull in the fighting. After establishing a base within Aeverian space, what remained of Warbot Industries, with the support of the Peacekeepers, consolidated their forces and began rebuilding and fortifying their remaining colonies. While morale remained low and they lacked the manpower or resources to engage in large-scale military operations, the Minomits remained determined to support the Peacekeepers in any way they could as soon as they were able. Fully anticipating Pact forces to return, WBI focused first and foremost on constructing new production and mining facilities.

Disaster struck four weeks after the First Battle of Norsus when several Minomit colonies simultaneously fell under attack and subsequently went dark. Though initially believed to be a Warlord invasion, reports from the colonies described an unidentified alien race, and recent intelligence reports indicated no significant mobilization on the Warbot front. A Minomit-Aeverian fleet was quickly assembled and deployed to drive the invaders away. The relief force first encountered the invaders, who immediately engaged the fleet, at a minomit mining colony. Though the Peacekeepers put up a valiant fight, they were still recovering from the heavy losses incurred during Operation Sledgehammer, and did not possess the manpower or resources to repel the aliens, who ultimately drove away Alliance forces and claimed ten of the Minomits remaining colonies after weeks of fighting.

The invaders were later identified as the Rathakern, an aggressive reptilian species that had recently appeared in the sector and had begun attacking any and all colonies in its wake as part of 'Project Relevance', whose goal was to acquire resources for the Omnishia, a large battleship being built in the heart of the empire. The Rathakern would later declare themselves as Warlords and attacked a number of Peacekeeper positions. The Rathakern's hyper-aggressive attitude impressed Pact officials, but problems soon arose as the Rathakern were in the war for themselves and had little real interest in supporting their allies, which would continue to be an issue throughout their involvement in the war. Warbot Industries never recovered from the invasion; the corporation had dissolved in the final days of fighting, with the remnants retreating into and joining the Aeveria Confederation as a new member race.

Battle of Lichen
Though the Pact's foothold in Diab space, which would soon be known across the region as the 'Meat Grinder', would be the site of relentless fighting throughout the war, it was not the only region of Diab space attacked by Pact forces. Once General Gancarda's forces had been relocated to the Diab front, the general probed for vulnerable Diab colonies to invade. During their search, they came across the planet of Lichen, which was rich in crystals the Monarchy had been using in the development of new energy weapons. Spies were sent down to the planet's surface while Gancarda mobilized his forces for an offensive. Once a suitable landing zone had been located, Gancarda's forces made landfall and established an outpost. Soon after, they were engaged by Diab forces stationed in a nearby fort. While Zaretian forces defended the landing zone, a squad of Nightshades went behind Diab lines and disabled the fort's anti-air defenses. Moments later, ships under the command of Lord Atlas swept in and dropped troops into the fortress, overwhelming and driving away the defenders. Gancarda, who was unaware of Atlas' presence, questioned the lord as to why he had come, as it was not his operation. Atlas responded that Gancarda was holding back, and that he, despite being outranked by Gancarda, was taking over the invasion. Gancarda relented, but warned the general to watch his back.

Zaretian forces attacked multiple Diab positions across the planet before converging on the defender's command center, which was located in the Lichen's frozen tundras. A fierce battle broke out across the region, but while Atlas and Gancarda had devoted all of their available troops, Diab reinforcements from the mainland had begun to turn the tide in the Peacekeeper's favor as they gradually attained aerial superiority. The tide shifted back in the Monarchy's favor as troops successfully flanked the defenders and eliminated several of their anti-air cannons, allowing strikecraft and dropships to enter the battlefield. As his troops slowly advanced towards the command center, Atlas deployed a group of Nightshades to infiltrate the fortress through its sewer network to both gather intelligence and to disrupt its defenses. The Diabs had anticipated this maneuver, and captured the Nightshades as they reached the sewers.

Inside the prison, the Nightshades met one of the spies that had been sent to the planet prior to the invasion, who explained that he had been caught shortly after the invasion had started. With the use of reprogrammed spider droids, the Zaretians were able to escape the prison and made their way to the fortress' primary anti-orbital cannon. They disabled its generator, but as they escaped, were intercepted by the command center's commander. Before he could lead the operatives back to the prison, Atlas and Gancarda's forces, with support from their naval warships, successfully breached the fortress, killing the commander and his entourage in the process. Several hours of fighting followed before the Zaretians eliminated the fortress' garrison, prompting Lichen's remaining defenders to evacuate and cede the planet to the Monarchy.

Second Battle of Falkeos
The colony of Falkeos sat at the very edge of the Pact's foothold in Diab space and was viewed as a significant obstacle to Warlord efforts in the region. Though the Margan's previous attack during Operation Sledgehammer had inflicted considerable damage to the colony's infrastructure and resulted in the development of a worsening crystal infestation, the Diabs refused to cede the planet, and had deployed a large number of troops as they repaired and expanded the colony's fortifications. This led the Repzork to believe that Falkeos would soon be used as a springboard for offensives into the foothold. With Diab attention divided between the Battle of Lichen and the Rathakern's attack on Larvos, Repzork high command planned to attack and conquer Falkeos with all readily available forces. Elements of the 277th and 14th, alongside the 13th and 12th Magellan Battle Fleets and a large number of Skrey auxiliaries, were tasked with conquering the planet while the 355th protected logistical assets and provided reserve troops.

The first target of the invasion was Falkeos' expansive orbital construction and maintenance facilities, which were connected to space elevators that ferried troops and supplies to and fro the surface. Though some of the stations had been damaged or destroyed, the bulk of the network remained operational, and were protected by an array of point-defense cannons, gun platforms, and the Diab navy, which maintained a battlegroup around each station. The Repzork aimed to capture the stations and use them to send troops to the surface without having to establish a landing zone amid the crystalline fields that now covered some parts of the planet.

The battle commenced with the 277th, 14th, and Magello each launching attacks on separate fronts, forcing the Diabs to divide their forces. Several Diab ships were quickly crippled or outright destroyed by shock jumps, allowing the 14th to close in on two of the installations and deploy boarding pods full of Skrey. Though most of the Skrey died in the subsequent engagement, they cleared the way for Repzork troops to move in and secure the facilities. The 277th and 14th claimed a third station roughly an hour later, but failed in capturing a fourth, opting instead to destroy it so as to deny it to the defenders. As Pact troops descended the elevators, companies of shock troops were deployed around the elevator's ground-side hubs. Once the hubs were secured, Pact forces began landing en masse.

Though they had secured a safe landing zone, crystal growths still made traversing some regions difficult, prompting the Pact to utilize a liberal number of armored vehicles, artillery, and when able, aircraft. Tank columns navigating crystalline fields were often targets of Diab infantry, who would lie in wait and ambush vulnerable targets. Pact forces responded by deploying chemical weapons within crystal patches and using infantry to sweep through and flush out resistance. Diab reinforcements had also begun appearing in the sector and were contesting Pact naval forces for orbital control. Despite these difficulties, Repzork forces were able to slowly advance across the surface.

The heaviest fighting of the campaign took place near the orbital elevators that remained under Diab control. The Pact attempted to first capture each elevator; but if they were not able, they would instead use starships to destroy it. This was a risky maneuver, as destroying the elevator would rain debris weighing upwards to several thousand tons in a several-kilometer perimeter around the elevator. This forced the Pact to withdraw their ground forces whenever the order for destruction was given, which in turn gave Diab forces an opportunity to withdraw. The last elevator was eliminated four months into the campaign, marking the point in which Pact forces gained near-total orbital and aerial superiority over the planet.

Fighting would on the surface continue for another month before what remained of the defenders were cornered in Vigríar, a derelict fortress that had been bombarded with crystals during the previous invasion. The Pact attempted to bomb the facility, but were forced back when the Diabs reactivated some of the station's guns. The fortress was then bombarded with artillery for five straight days, but the Diabs inside survived by hiding in underground bunkers and continued to put up resistance. In a last-ditch attempt, biochemical munitions were launched into the fortress hours prior to an infantry assault. As Pact soldiers approached, the Diabs emerged from their positions and charged the attackers. Most were visibly wounded and had been coughing up blood from the chemical attack. Fearing that any one of the Diabs would frenzy, Pact soldiers panicked and routed, causing confusion amid their ranks that allowed the Diabs to close in. A fierce skirmish followed, during which the Diabs fought to the last, but not before killing a large number of Pact troops.

Repzork Begin Weaponizing Marganite
The Repzork had begun extensive research on Marganites shortly after their entry into the war; initially, this research was limited to uncovering a way to reverse the growth of crystals in preparations for post-war colonization. But as the war intensified and Repzoerk troops witnessed firsthand the physical and psychological impact Marganite had on the enemy, interest in weaponizing the material grew within High Command. This was met with fierce resistance from much of the Marshal's Council as scientists had not yet managed to reverse the growth of Marganite and thus would be unable to undo an infestation that could render a potentially useful planet uninhabitable. It was only the Marshals of the Star Navy and the Marines, Ilivaris Kindasi and Nuoh Gersalv respectively, who supported Marganite weaponization, as the use of the substance in space posed little to no risk to planets. They drafted various proposals for torpedos and missiles using crystal-based warheads; but in the vote, they were overruled, the rest of the Council more interested in understanding how to undo the crystals.

It was during the early months of Operation Stormbreaker that the Council had begun to reconsider its previous ruling. The need for a quick and immediate answer to the Diab threat pushed Marshal Zurar change his vote to yes, but supporters were again overruled by High Marshal Tarsovis, Marshal Veto Korvack, and Emperor Zervath, who believed that crystals should under no circumstances be used in a defensive operation within their own territory. The matter would once more come to the Council's attention shortly after the Exodus; with the Margan gone and their plans to push deeper into Alliance territory in tatters, the Repzork knew that they would need to develop new tools to stay ahead. Demand for crystal weapons had already been building up among the rest of high command, with some armadas, most notably the 277th and 14th, requesting permission to use the weapons on the Diab front. Thus, late into the sixth year of the war, both Tarsovis and Zervath approved a crystal weaponization program, with a caveat that they could only be used in operations on foreign soil. Veto was the only Marshal to vote no.

In a short span of time, research & development teams created a wide array of weapons, most of which were explosive in nature, ranging from grenades to MIRVs. The most powerful of these was the RS18 Firestorm, a MIRV which uses pressurized, superheated crystals to generate explosive growth over a wide area. Bullets, melee weapons, and more followed after. The crystals would also be crushed into a fine powder and loaded into shells for use as chemical weapons.

Marganite-based weapons would see their first use during the Second Battle of Falkeos, where imperial vessels were loaded with crystal shells to ensure that even if a Diab ship was not destroyed, it was nonetheless hindered as more and more crystals were fired into it. They saw more limited use on the ground, as some remained wary of the crystal's toxic properties, but field trials still showed promising results. Due to this success, Marganite weapons would become an accepted part of the empire's arsenal and would continue to see development throughout the war.

Bombardment of Larvos
Under orders from Warmaster Moratoryan as a continuation of their plans to establish themselves amidst the instability of the war, Rathakern Weapon scientists developed large-scale anti-civilian biological "Overlord Bombs" on remote outposts outside the main cluster and in former Minomit space. The intent was to use the bombs against Peacekeeper cities to even the playing field against more entrenched powers and destroy civilian resistance to invasion. The program was conducted in secret, but Diab scouting sweeps detected and tracked a heavily guarded supply convoy en route to one such base and logged it as suspicious to command.

A team of Diabloian Valkyries was deployed to follow one of the Rathakern's supply convoys to uncover information on the Warlord's plans. Unbeknownst to the spies, the Rathakern had already made their move, with General Wraithbane's fleet making its way towards the Diab colony of Larvos. By the time the Valkyries uncovered the Rathakern's plans, the attack on the colony had already begun; several of the strategic Overlord Bombs loaded with biological agents had been deployed at the colony, killing thousands as Rathakern forces stormed the colony. The Diabs evacuated surviving citizens, but were defeated after a pitched battle that reduced much of the colony to ruins. The Rathakern would initiate similar attacks on nearby colonies, successfully establishing a small foothold in Diab space in the process.

Rathakern raid Asanians
Without warning, Rathakern forces under the leadership of Commander Wreav attacked multiple outlying Asanian colonies, their forces targeting specific military and corporate outposts. These raids had specific, but unclear, objectives, as the Rathakern would often send a diversionary force to distract the defenders while special operatives infiltrated the facilities and stole specific items. In one notable incident, the Rathakern besieged 0797-2674-1132-PMCO for a little over five hours; though the Asanians narrowly managed to hold their position, they soon discovered that Rathakern infiltrators had made it inside and escaped with A.I equipment, most notably processors, while leaving the rest of the facility intact. The Syndicate responded forcefully, but the Rathakern continued their raids for the next several months, hampering Syndicate efforts elsewhere.

The raids were met with immediate condemnation from the Warlord Pact, including those who distrusted or outright disliked the Asanians, as the Peacekeepers were still considered the bigger threat and an attack on a fellow member of the Pact, regardless of their beliefs, was only hurting the Pact in the long run. The Warlords demanded an answer from the Rathakern, but received no response, as Warmaster Moratoryan unwilling to disclose the purpose of the raids, which was to acquire materials for the construction of the Omnishia. For these actions, the Rathakern were formally expelled from the Pact and were from then on considered hostiles to be shot on sight, though they made no efforts to impede the Rathakern's attacks against Peacekeeper targets.

Judgment Day
After several victories against the Biomatter, the ABTF's mettle was tested when a spore from Fafnir landed on a colony deep within Diab territory. With most of the ABTF's forces elsewhere, it was up to a local Diab contingent to contain the infestation, which had already established a foothold on the planet. Within the contingent was a small group of Diab bio-troopers, including Specialist Heimdall, widely considered to be one of the best specialist the empire has to offer. After fighting through the infected colony, Heimdall successfully infiltrated the hive and planted a powerful explosive inside the hive. The explosive detonated just as Heimdall escaped, destroying the spore and ending the infection.

Keros Offensive
The conquest of Falkeos had left nearby Diab colonies open to Pact invasions; this was compounded by Zaretian and Rathakern attacks elsewhere, which pulled a number of Diab troops away from the foothold. This prompted the Diabs to evacuate nearby colonies and dig in with their available forces. Emboldened, Imperial Command began planning for its next move mere days after the Falkeos campaign had concluded. The offensive, codenamed Keros, would have Warlord forces engage the Diabs along three prongs. The central prong would be manned chiefly by Magello and Skrey, and intended to tie down Diab manpower. The right prong, known as south, would be led by the 14th and 277th armadas while the left, known as north, was spearheaded by the 355th and Commandant Tor. North and south were to push along the central prong's flanks and gradually sweep around and cut off the defenders. As well as pushing the foothold deeper into Diab space, this would make the foothold less dependent on outside assistance in terms of resources, as they would have more land to exploit.

While preparations were still underway, the Aeverians initiated Operation Burning Lance, the sheer size of which caught many in Imperial Command off guard. It was proposed that the Repzork halt their current plans in order to support the Monarchy, but this was rejected by the Marshal's Council, who aimed to prevent the Diabs or Karahotdoum from supporting the Aeveria by keeping them on the defensive. The 843rd, which was already stationed in Aeverian territory alongside the Necraal, would focus their efforts on diverting Aeverian resources away from the offensive with limited-scale attacks. Imperial Command would continue to monitor the Aeveria's progress, but the Zaretian's rapid response and the subsequent halt of Peacekeeper forces restored some confidence that the Zaretians could hold their ground, at least for the moment.

The Pact's buildup did not go entirely unnoticed by Diab Valkyries, who had been sent into the foothold to act as scouts. Though the Peacekeepers did not know where the Warlords would attack, they believed that an offensive would be sooner rather than later, and used what time they had to prepare. With the colonies having been evacuated, the Diabs focused their efforts on major colonies, such as major population and industrial centers, while leaving smaller units stationed at low-priority systems to slow down the Pact's advance. A large number of reserves were withheld for when the offensive began; they were to be deployed wherever they were needed.

The Keros Offensive officially began with all three prongs simultaneously attacking. The Diab's outermost defenses were shattered, but had fought to the last man, buying precious time. Pact forces made substantial gains in the following months, but had underestimated the number and tenacity of the defenders, which robbed the south and central prongs of some of the momentum that Imperial Command had expected, the central front gradually slowing to a crawl. The north front was the exception, the 14th and 277th advancing deep into enemy territory through a mixture of strategy and unrelenting force. The Diabs were quick to respond, sending the bulk of their reserves to engage the north prong, though they would be unable to halt the north's advance.

First and Second Battle of Tikka
Though General Wraithbane kept the bulk of his troops on the Diab front, the general soon began to expand his targets as he sent troops against the nearby Delani. Rathakern forces attacked the colony of Tikka and successfully captured its capitol, New Demosia. A Delani relief force arrived at the planet, and after hours of fierce fighting, drove the Rathakern from New Demosia, though they failed to repel them from the planet. Fierce back-and-forth fighting would continue for months, New Demosia and other settlements changing hands numerous times during the engagement, before the Delani forced the Rathakern off the colony. But the Rathakern returned a month later, beginning the battle anew. The Delani garrison, still recovering from the previous battle, proved no match for the reinvigorated Rathakern, who overwhelmed the defenders and recaptured the planet.

Battle of Embaelos
The Diab colony of Embaelos had been one of Falkeos' suppliers of manpower and equipment. Since Falkeos' fall, Embaelos had been repurposed as a forward command center for the Diab's fight against the Northern prong throughout the Keros offensive. Imperial Command has made the capture of Embaelos a priority objective for the Keros Offensive, and the North prong had been steadily advancing towards the colony since the offensive had begun. Knowing the planet would be attacked, the Diabs planned to turn Embaelos into a trap. Allied command diverted troops initially intended for the central and southern fronts to a system near Embaelos. They were to maintain position until after the Repzork had begun the attack, and were to isolate and cripple either the 14th's or 277th's command fleet, eliminating the fleet's commanding officers in the process. Unbeknownst to the Diabs, the Repzork, knowing that Embaelos would be heavily fortified but unaware of the Diab's plans, devised a ruse. The 277th would launch a feint against the Diabs and would then, after a brief engagement, withdraw, intending to draw out the defenders. Elements of the 14th would then sweep in and attack the Diab's exposed flanks. To make the trap more convincing, the 277th's command fleet was to be included in the attack.

The Repzork began the attack with standard tactics, giving the impression that a full invasion force had come, but the Diabs quickly took notice of the unusually small size of the force. Some concluded that it had to be a trap, but with the 277th's command fleet taking part in the attack, others believed that the Repzork were either unaware of the planet's strategic significance or had simply underestimated the defenses. After a brief period of intense fighting, the 277th began to pull back, but before it could do so, the Diabs sprung the trap, and their reserves appeared behind the invaders. Now severely outnumbered, the 277th alerted the 14th to their situation. The 14th then arrived and caught some of the Diabs by surprise.

As the 14th fought their way towards the 277th, the 277th's flagship was temporarily disabled and boarded by several waves of Diab shock troopers tasked with either capturing or killing Star Marshal Vilotr and Field Marshal Likana. An intense battle broke out throughout the ship, during which Marshal Likana donned her personal battlesuit and fought alongside her troops. She killed many of the attackers before her battlesuit was rendered inoperable after repeated shots to the legs. The field marshal continued to fight, but was incapacitated soon after, and had to be dragged away by her personal entourage before the Diabs could apprehend her.

Before the Diabs could eliminate the flagship, additional Repzork troops began to surge into the system in vast numbers; the attack had drawn the attention of all available elements of the 14th and 277th, who had been ordered to the system by Star Marshal Kiryusa Luok. The Diabs were repelled, and the 277th's command fleet subsequently fled the system, returning to the foothold for repairs. The battle nevertheless continued, the Repzork intent on seeking vengeance and claiming the planet. After a bitter engagement, Embaelos fell to Repzork forces.

Though the Diabs had failed in their objectives, the battle had nonetheless checked the rapid advance of the northern prong, especially in regards to the 277th. Marshal Likana would be hospitalized for several months, during which command of the 277th's ground forces fell upon her second-in-command, General Ezanfi Dugoro. Portions of the 277th, most notably the command fleet, were recalled to the mainland, with Marshal Vilotr and General Ezanfi temporarily taking direct command of one of the 277th's attack fleets. The Keros Offensive would continue, but the northern prong would never regain the initiative it had prior to Embaelos.

Flight of the Omnishia
After years of almost nonstop work, the construction of the Omnishia, the jewel of the Rathakern navy, was completed. Personally commanded by Warmaster Moratoryan, the vessel was the largest and most heavily armed and armored vessel in the Rathakern fleet. Construction of the vessel had long been plagued with resource shortages and technological limitations, but the previous raids against Peacekeeper and Warlord targets, though they had politically isolated the regime, had put the project back on track, with the ship commissioned years ahead of schedule. The ship immediately became a symbol of Rathakern pride once it was unveiled to the public, with many truly believing that the empire had become unstoppable. The situation was quite different behind the scenes, as engagements had shown weaknesses in Rathakern doctrine, which was not accustomed to alpha-strike tactics or the use of FTL weaponry. As impressive as the Omnishia was, the vessel presented a massive target, and it was assumed that the ship would become a high-priority target as soon as it entered the field. By the time these flaws were realized, the ship was already near completion, and the admiralty was unwilling to discard the resources and time that had been committed to the ship. As a result, engineers did the best they could to better prepare the ship for such attacks, though their efforts resulted in minimal improvement.

The Omnishia was attached a large amalgamation of fleets that was to act as the Rathakern's primary offensive army. The battlegroup was to link up with General Wraithbane's forces for a combined push into Diab and Delani space, but before the operation could begin, the fleet, excluding the Omnishia, which was kept in the mainland to avoid detection, moved to the Rathakern's holdings in former WBI territory. The region, which had been the sight of sporadic clashes with Peacekeeper forces, was to be fortified and turned into a proper logistics base that could supply the operation. This buildup inevitably caught the attention of the Peacekeepers, who deployed operatives into the region. Intercepted transmissions revealed the existence of the Omnishia and its importance to the empire, but not specifics of the vessel itself. They also showed that once the fleet's current position had been secured, the Omnishia would make its way over to the region alongside a relatively small escort fleet.

Though the specifics of the vessel remained unclear to the Peacekeepers, the threat posed by the Rathakern could not be ignored, and the elimination of the Omnishia was seen as a key component to diminishing or outright eliminating the threat posed by the Rathakern. The Alliance planned to ambush the Omnishia as soon as it arrived in the WBI foothold with the intent of crippling the vessel through overwhelming firepower. With their forces stretched across multiple fronts, the Peacekeeper plan relied on shock and awe alongside perfect timing for success.

Two Peacekeeper fleets moved into position and held position. After a few hours of waiting, the Omnishia arrived in the system as planned, and within moments Alliances forces move in to engage. The Omnishia's own size gave away its identity to the attackers, who promptly unloaded all of their weapons into the ship, but the salvo, though it did overload the shield, did not deal enough damage to cripple the ship outright. The rest of the Rathakern fleet moved in to assist their Warmaster. The Peacekeepers continued to engage, splitting a portion of their forces off to act as a diversion, but this only delayed the Rathakern for a short time. Before they could suffer any substantial losses, the Peacekeepers withdrew. But while the operation failed to eliminate the Omnishia, the damage it received forced the vessel to dock for repairs for the next few weeks.

Operation Iron Gauntlet
With the northern salient contained, the Diabs turned their attention towards the southern salient. Having been reinforced by troops from both the southern and central fronts, the Diabs initiated Operation Iron Gauntlet, which aimed to reclaim the salient, cripple the 14th and 355th armadas, and open a passage to Falkeos, and ultimately, to Baltreos. The Peacekeepers focused the bulk of their troops at the salient's base, intending to cut it off from the foothold. Though heavily fortified, the salient's defenses were shattered in the assault before the Pact could respond, and the salient was severed. As the Diabs advanced down the salient, smaller attacks were launched at other portions of the area, though these assaults made little progress. As the 14th armada moved to meet the main Diab force, reinforcements from the foothold arrived into the sector, though they were cut off by Peacekeeper fleets until a daring attack by the 57th Magellan fleet caused a break through, allowing the Warlords to stabilize the front. Repzork forces made heavy use of crystal munitions at this point in the battle, particularly during ground engagements, where crystal-infused artillery shells, bombs, and grenades made traditional Diab tactics risky or impossible. After several more weeks of fighting, the Diabs were finally repelled by the sudden arrival of the 277th, which had recently completed replenishment.

Though repelled from the salient, the Diabs continued to attack the sector in several locations, waging a battle of attrition costly to both sides. Systems changed hands often, sometimes several times in only the span of one or two months, but neither side made substantial gains against the the for next seven months.

Battle of Hethos
Main article: Battle of Hethos

Battle of Vedrthar
Once the Omnishia had been repaired, Warmaster Moratoryan's were back on the move. They linked up with General Wraithbane, whose forces had been maintaining a defensive posture since the attack on the Omnishia, and renewed the Rathakern's offensive into Diab and Delani space with renewed vigor. Wraithbane concentrated on the Delani while Moratoryan and Commander Wreav pushed through Diab space. To blunt the assault, the Diabs were forced to divert troops from Iron Gauntlet. Even still, the Rathakern persevered, with the Omnishia pushing ahead into the Vedrthar Sector. Vedrthar sat right at the doorstep of the Pact's foothold, but with Iron Gauntlet underway elsewhere, was relatively quiet. The Rathakern were quick to take advantage of the situation, and began assaulting Peacekeeper positions as they inched towards the foothold.

But by this point in the offensive, the Rathakern had begun to encounter problems of their own. Their supply lines had been stretched thin and were vulnerable to harassment. Reinforcements came gradually, but were at times intercepted before they could link with the fleets. With the Warmaster and his commanders constantly on the move, there was little time to properly repair and maintain equipment. The Omnishia itself, though still a formidable vessel, was likewise beginning to sustain damage due to frequent engagements. Some of the engineers began to call for the ship to be returned to the Rathakern's WBI holdings for repairs, but Moratoryan refused, citing potential ambushes and the fact that the Rathakern needed to attack now while the enemy was preoccupied.

The Warmaster's advance soon caught the attention of the 17th Magellan Battle Fleet under the command of Captain Bulgara, which had been stationed in the area as a rapid response force. Fearing that an attack by the Rathakern could potentially shatter the foothold, Bulgara requested reinforcements and permission to engage the threat while it was still away from the foothold. Imperial Command, its attention focused on the battles in the salient, granted Bulgara a limited number of reinforcements but ordered her to maintain position until further notice. Bulgara, unwilling to wait for the Rathakern to make the first move, disobeyed Imperial Command's orders and breached protocol by contacting local Peacekeeper forces. She proposed a ceasefire so that the two could work together to repel the Rathakern. The Peacekeepers reluctantly agreed, and the two began planning how to best tackle the threat.

Commander Wreav and his men had been acting as a vanguard for Moratoryan's forces; the commander would launch preliminary attacks that softened the defenders before the main fleets arrived. Bulgara and the Peacekeepers planned to engage Wreav's command fleet and in doing so lure the Omnishia into a trap. Some protested the operation as being too risky, but officials on both sides understood that the Omnishia and its commander needed to be eliminated before the Rathakern could be broken.

While the bulk of Bulgara's forces maintained position and token forces contained ongoing Rathakern attacks, Magellan and Diab scouts scoured the region, searching for Commander Wreav. After a little over a week of observation, the movement of some of Wreav's forces were triangulated to a specific region of Vedrthar. A scout was sent ahead and confirmed the presence of a large concentration of Rathakern vessels. Believing it to be Wreav's command fleet, Bulgara moved in to engage. The allies had guessed correctly; Wreav, having not anticipated a large force nor having fought the Magello before, contacted the Warmaster for assistance. The Peacekeepers held back, waiting for the arrival of the Omnishia before revealing themselves. During the interlude, the Magello dealt a serious blow to Wreav, whose forces had been scattered across multiple planets, but the commander remained confident that the Omnishia would turn the tide.

When the Omnishia and its escort fleet finally arrived, the Magello shifted their attention towards the ship and pressed the attack, preventing the vessel from effectively maneuvering. The Rathakern had seemingly turned the battle back in their favor, but in truth, the Magello, though now being battered by the Warmaster's forces, were providing the Peacekeepers with targeting data. Soon, the Peacekeepers entered the fray and attacked the Omnishia with several alpha strikes, overloading the shield and piercing the ship's hull in several locations. This in turn led to a few of the Omnishia's ammunition stores exploding, causing further damage to the ship. But while the Omnishia had been seriously wounded and its crew shaken, the ship was still capable of fighting, and the Rathakern maintained numerical superiority. Moratoryan acted quickly, requesting for further reinforcements as he focused his attacks against the Magello in an effort to break out.

Though stationed in Delani space, General Wraithbane responded to the distress call by dispatching a portion of his forces to the engagement. They appeared behind one of the Peacekeeper fleets, forcing the ships to divert their attention away from the Omnishia. But before Moratoryan could exploit the distraction, Captain Bulgara's flagship, though having sustained heavy damage in doing so, carefully maneuvered itself behind the Omnishia and unloaded a salvo directly into the vessel's engines, causing a detonation that damaged the vessel's stern and rendering the ship completely immobile.

To the disbelief of both Bulgara and the Peacekeepers, the Omnishia continued to put up resistance, the crew making no attempt to scuttle the vessel. With their Warmaster in peril, all nearby Rathakern ships moved to form a perimeter around the Omnishia, though Wraithbane's forces were unable to advance due to the Peacekeepers. Bulgara and the rest of the Peacekeepers advanced towards the ship, fighting through the Rathakern fleet as strikecraft performed bombing runs on the Omnishia's remaining weapons systems, which soon began to fall silent under the onslaught. Commander Wreav was among the ships defending the Omnishia, but he was soon killed after his ship took multiple hits from the frontal cannons of a Diab cruiser, one of which had glanced the bridge, vaporizing Wreav and the crew. Once the Rathakern's defenses had thinned further and a path to the Omnishia had opened, Diab and Magellan soldiers were deployed into the vessel to secure the ship and eliminate Warmaster Moratoryan. The Warmaster, donning his Void Axe and a plasma hand cannon, fought the invaders alongside his men. Fighting in the ship would persist for almost two straight days due in part to the size of the ship and its vast crew even after much of it had been wounded or killed prior to the boarding operation. Outside, the allied force repelled the Rathakern from around the Omnishia, preventing any reinforcements from reaching the ship.

Near the end of the second day, Warmaster Moratoryan and what remained of his honor guard were surrounded by Diab and Magellan soldiers. The Rathakern dictator was ordered to surrender, but he instead charged headlong into the attackers, his guards following suit. Over the next five minutes, the guards were gunned down or killed in hand-to-hand combat, leaving the Warmaster on his own. He felled many of the attackers before a Diab Shock Trooper dodged a swipe of the Void Axe and plunged his bayonet into the Rathakern's arm before unleashing a point-blank burst of fire that severed Moratoryan's hand. The Warmaster raised his hand cannon, but the Diab was faster, and wrestled the gun out of his hand. The two grappled before a second soldier charged the Warmaster with his pauldron, knocking him to the ground. The Diab then grabbed Moratoryan's jaws and, after a momentary struggle, pulled them apart, shattering them and severing one of Moratoryan's carotid arteries, killing him almost instantly.

With both Warmaster Moratoryan and Commander Wreav dead, the Omnishia captured, and their forces having sustained irreplaceable losses, the remaining Rathakern routed, fleeing either towards their WBI foothold, General Wraithbane, or in any other direction away from Vedrthar. Thousands of Rathakern would be taken prisoner, including what remained of the Omnishia's crew, though a small few would continue to hold out before being eliminated in subsequent sweeps through the ship. An uneasy calm then fell between the Peacekeepers and Bulgara as troops on both sides began pondering their next move now that their objective had been completed. A few of Bulgara's officers pushed for an attack, but Bulgara refused; the commander had no intention of turning on an ally, even a temporary one, so quickly, and wanted to give both sides an opportunity to rest and recuperate. More importantly, the Magello had taken the brunt of the assault, and Peacekeeper troops outnumbered them by a substantial margin. Within the Omnishia, some of the Diabs and Magello had slowly begun to fraternize as they divided the spoils of the battle, tended to the wounded, and recovered bodies for burial. Rumors continue to circulate that a tiny handful of Magello soldiers used the opportunity to defect to the Peacekeepers, and that Bulgara may have been in some way complicit, but such reports remain in the realm of conspiracy. In a show of goodwill, and to prevent a possible confrontation, Bulgara allowed the Peacekeepers to claim the wreckage of the Omnishia and Warmaster Moratoryan's equipment, both of which would be brought back to Diab space for study and as trophies. Bulgara's forces, after having taken what they needed, returned to the foothold while the Peacekeepers moved to join their allies in engaging Wraithbane.

Wraithbane was notified of Moratoryan's death as Rathakern fores had begun to fall back. As well as a complete loss of the Rathakern's morale, the destruction of the Omnishia had left Wraithbane's flank completely exposed. The general ordered an immediate evacuation and for all Rathakern forces to fall back to the WBI foothold. But as Wraithbane's forces began to fall back, emboldened Delani surged across the front, scattering the Rathakern and inflicting terrible losses on the invaders. Worse yet, Peacekeeper ships from Vedrthar soon began streaming into the region. To avoid being surrounded, Wraithbane ordered his ships to depart, abandoning any troops that were still on the surface, all of whom would either die or be taken prisoner; this did little to help the general, however, as the Peacekeepers followed Wraithbane back to the WBI foothold. Both forces arrived in the area mere minutes apart, and a fight promptly broke out For several hours, Wraithbane attempted to hold his ground, but he was then contacted by General Parthen, who had been overseeing the Homeland Defense Fleet and had now been appointed as the new Warmaster in place of Moratoryan. Parthen ordered Wraithbane and his men to abandon the foothold and return to the mainland in the event of a Peacekeeper attack. The general complied, and his men made a fighting retreat away from the region.

Though the Rathakern had been repelled, it had come at a considerable price for the Peacekeepers. The short but intense campaign had been fought primarily with troops desperately needed on other fronts; this was most notable in the Diab foothold, where the withdrawal of troops from Iron Gauntlet contributed to the Repzork repelling the Diabs from the southern salient. Those who had not been killed or crippled were exhausted and needed time to rest and tend to their equipment, granting the Pact a temporary advantage in manpower in some regions. A few officials pushed for a front against the Rathakern, but this was unanimously rejected. Nevertheless, observers continue to monitor the outskirts of Rathakern space for signs of buildup, though they have yet to detect anything of note. Little is known of what transpired in the Rathakern mainland following their defeat, but most believe they have either given up or are building their forces back up and preparing for another opportunity to strike in the far future.

Imperial Command had learned of Bulgara's rogue actions as the Battle of Vedrthar was already underway, and decided to allow the conflict to run its course before taking action. What exactly they should do with the Captain became a matter of lenghty debate. Though she had disobeyed orders, she had eliminated what could have been a serious threat to the foothold; at the same time, a story of Warlord and Peacekeeper forces working together could potentially harm the public's perception of the war. There were also fears that some of the Magello could defect as Zinmar and Omard had. In the end, it was decided that Bulgara and her men would not be directly punished, but would be kept where the Pact could keep an eye on them. Bulgara and her men were commemorated in a public ceremony celebrating their heroic actions against the Rathakern while propaganda minimized the role of the Peacekeepers and exaggerated the threat posed by the Rathakern, implying that the two forces had no other option than to work together and that there was no fraternization. The 17th fleet was then subsequently moved from the foothold to a fortress world near Sculpterra, where they would slowly build themselves back up with diehard Warlord supporters.

Warlord-Recycler Intervention
See also: Bunker Incident

Following the ascension of High Chancellor Visas Jorental, the Betel were in a process of total mobilization driven on his jingoist Military Proliferation Act. These measures were justified as necessary to combat the aggression of Xeverran encroachments on Betel worlds. While nowhere near a significant power, they had previously established strong economic ties with a multitude of Peacekeeper nations thanks to the activities of previous High Chancellor Corim Decutuk. Betel had been trading with empires of either side, but Peacekeeper trade made up the bulk of their exports, especially after nearly a decade of war. Deposing the Recycler government which held a loose grip on the Betel people would allow them to install a puppet government that could be forced to cut off supply routes to the Peacekeepers. In any case, Warlord Leadership was of the belief that should the Betel choose to take a side in the Great War, it would be alongside the Peacekeepers they held stronger economic ties with, and the ramping up of militarization signaled their intent to get involved. The Pact resolved to intervene while the Recycler government had only just begun war efforts in a quick and decisive action that would be over before the Peacekeepers could deliberate on their involvement. Zaretian operatives were dispatched to sabotage Recycler sensors along a corridor leading to the home planet of Betel. This mission was a success, but some of the operatives were captured when they began work on disabling key installations on the homeworld. With the Recyclers becoming wise to the intentions of the Zaretians, the expeditionary fleet opted to strike before the window of opportunity closed and began storming towards their target with all haste. Arriving at Betel, the Zaretians caught the poorly-organized Recycler military unprepared and a land assault was launched on the planet. Drawing on the traditions of the previous invasion of Betel by the Doisu decades earlier, a fierce resistance was put up, and the need for speed had left Monarchy forces less cohesive than intended. After a handful of vicious skirmishes, the Zaretians were pushed back. Sky Spear forces had arrived and succeeded in keeping reserves at bay, and the Monarchy pulled out, escaping relatively unmolested thereafter.

Fearing reprisal, the Recycler government sought to negotiate with the enemies of the Pact, the Peacekeeper Alliance. A meeting was brokered by the Luminarian Rebels, but word on the meeting was leaked to Warlord intelligence by dissident Doisu engineers through the Wolnch Authority (who were threatened by the Recycler militarization after they had supported the Doisu against the Betel during the war). They feared that if they had the backing of the Peacekeeper juggernaut, the Recyclers would be more bold in their aggression. Syndicate assassins were contracted out to disrupt the meeting, and were able to wipe out the Luminarian delegation. The Betel delegation had not yet arrived and so escaped harm, casting suspicion on the trustworthiness of the Recyclers, but they were admitted into the Alliance to safeguard necessary resources. The Wolnch Authority would ultimately successfully seek membership with the Warlord Pact, disillusioned with the Peacekeepers hypocrisy and threatened by looming Betel aggression.

Corporate elements strongly linked with Warlord empires began resisting this change in policy, eventually forming the DeComp Rebels.

Battle of Helia & Third Battle of Falkeos
With the Rathakern threat abolished, Diab command prepared for another major push into the southern salient. Months of preparation would see the formation of the largest Diab fleet thus far in the Repzork theater. This buildup did not go entirely unnoticed by the Pact, but a successful deception campaign misled the Pact on the fleet's size, where it was attacking, and when. Though the bulk of the 355th and 14th armadas would remain in the salient, elements of the two fleets, as well as the 277th armada and many Magellan, Skrey, and Zaretian units, were relocated to the supposed target.

Diab forces attacked the salient a full week earlier than the Pact had anticipated. The unprepared defenders, though they put up heavy resistance, did not have the manpower to repel the Peacekeepers; the salient was breached on three different fronts, and Diab forces spilled into the region, dividing the salient into several distinct pockets and throwing the defenders into disarray. The foothold sent all available forces to the salient, though it would be several hours before the bulk of their forces arrived. A relief fleet spearheaded by the 277th charged into the thick of the fighting, bisecting Diab lines as they raced to rescue encircled troops. As elements of both armadas were retrieved, casualties were withdrawn while the rest stayed behind to continue fighting. As more troops entered the salient, the entire battle would be thrown into disarray as both sides were forced to fight on multiple unpredictable fronts.

As the battle in the salient raged, Diab forces attacked Falkeos to disrupt Pact logistics and repair stations. Though most of Falkeos' garrison had been sent to the salient, a sizeable force remained on the planet, though they were stationed around the orbital elevators, leaving portions of their defense vulnerable. The Diabs used these weak-points to breach Falkeos' orbital defenses and deploy shock troops to the surface. A landing zone was established, and Diab forces pushed swiftly across the planet, with Valkyries moving ahead of the main force to disrupt defenses and supply stations. Peacekeeper forces made substantial gains in the first months of the battle, having captured several fortresses, the old capitol, and destroying one of the planet's orbital elevators. But they were eventually driven off the world by Magello troops and elements of the 355th and 14th that had escaped the salient.

Vicious fighting would continue in and around the salient for a little over a year in some of the bloodiest battles since Operation Sledgehammer. The Pact ultimately failed to repel the invaders, and suffered severe losses during the battle. Combined with outside pressures such as the dissolution of the Saracin Empire, which necessitated that troops be sent to reinforce the Karahotdoum front; the invasion of Batel space, and the continued withdrawal of Zaretian forces from Diab space, the Pact was forced to cede the salient to the Peacekeepers and retreat. Though they had dealt a decisive blow to the Warlords, the Diabs' victory had cost them in almost equal measure.

Operation Isomer
Main Page: Rigni campaign‎

Repzork Invasion of Betel
Repzork Imperial Command had been closely monitoring the Zaretian's activities in Betel space. Had the Monarchy been successful, the empire intended to stake a claim on some of the Betel's resource-rich colonies to meet growing demands for military equipment. With the Zaretian's failure to occupy Betel and puppet their leadership, the Marshal's Council considered opening a front against the Recyclers. Support for war was almost unanimous; though Marshal Zurar feared that committing troops to a new front could pull resources away from the Karahotdoum and Diab theaters, the Council agreed that the Betel could not be allowed to build up their army nor could their resources be used by the Peacekeepers. The 489th 'Ghost Eaters' armada, which specialized in asymmetrical warfare and occupation, was assigned to the task. Though relatively small compared to other armadas, it was believed that the 489th's superior equipment and training would allow them to overwhelm Betel colonies with ease.

To test the Betel's defenses, the 489th dispatched a strike force to engage Betel on a remote outpost. Imperial forces made rapid gains in the opening assault, but Betel guerilla fighters sabotaged their supply lines, giving time for reinforcements - who had been preparing for a second, larger Zaretian attack for the past year - to rapidly redeploy to sweep in and flank the Repzork, successfully driving the invaders off the planet. Though embarrassed by the setback, the 489th launched new and larger assaults deeper into Betel territory. As Imperial Command had predicted, superior Repzork forces overwhelmed the Betel Helmwehr, capturing and occupying several colonies in a short span of time. However, while the 489th was suited for fighting the Betel in theory, in practice their training had not fully prepared them for the polluted and trash-ridden environment of Betel settlements, which the Recyclers were able to navigate with ease. Betel guerilla fighters would continue to resist Repzork occupation long after a colony had been captured, necessitating that more troops be sent to occupied colonies and slowing down the Pact's advance. Environmental factors also hindered the Warlords, such as the fact that artillery could not be used in most situations due to the risk of causing avalanches. Despite these difficulties, with the Betel military as a whole still inferior to the Repzork, the Pact continued to make steady progress against the Recyclers, with their ultimate goal being to occupy Betel itself.

After the first few weeks of chaotic fighting, High Chancellor Visas would create the position of Voivode - a military governor- and promote Brave Commander Ruusad Hassai of the the 2nd North Grip to bring the forces together in hopes of putting up a defense.

The Horror
Taldrin was a small Acropolan colony located on the fringes of their empire. Far from the Great War and the Conkirites, the planet was lightly-defended and was considered to be of little priority. This would ultimately prove to be its downfall when Apophis attacked the colony. Unable to repel the invaders, the colony was soon overran, leading to the deaths of most of the planet's population.

Second Battle of Baltreos
The Warlord's retreat from the salient had been disorganized, creating gaps from which the Diabs plunged headlong into the foothold and attacked Baltreos, believing that this could be their only opportunity to shatter the foothold in the foreseeable future. This surprised some Warlord officers who had believed that Falkeos would be their next target. Though battered and bloodied, Pact forces who had fought in the salient assisted in defending the planet, with Admiral Kiryusa Luok and the remains of the 14th armada notably leading Pact naval forces in and around the system. During the Battle of Helia, the garrison at Baltreos had been granted access to much of the Repzork's next-generation equipment, which included the first two Helia-class battlecruisers, the HLBC Hruthvar and Hruthvair, which were equipped with new Planet-Cracker Superheavy Railcannons; a third Planet Cracker that had been built on the surface of Baltreos as an anti-orbital gun, ships equipped with gravity wells, mobile shield generators both on the ground and in space, RS18 Firestorm missiles, and a slew of updated vehicles and weapons. Imperial command had initially aimed to deploy their new assets during the battle in the salient or at Falkeos, but the chaotic nature of the conflict and the fact that their new equipment was still few in number led to command retaining them at Baltreos for the exact circumstance they now found themselves in. The planet cracker on Baltreos was located in the planet's capital city, which had been converted into a vast, fortified complex that stretched deep underground.

As Diab forces entered the system, they were almost immediately attacked by the Hruthvar and Hruthvair, whose guns outranged most of the Diab fleet. The Diabs attempted to deploy hunter-killers, but their ships could not get accurate coordinates due to the Repzork's gravity generators, forcing the Diabs to close in and fight conventionally. The Pact fleet maintained position, firing potshots at the approaching Peacekeepers as they drew nearer to Baltreos' Planet Cracker. A Diab destroyer was among the first ships to step into range, and in moments had its entire front-half vaporized by the cannon. Realizing the trap, the Peacekeepers attempted to retreat, but it was then that the Pact fleet closed in and engaged, preventing the Diabs from escaping.

Left with no other option, the Peacekeepers focused their efforts on eliminating the Hruthvar and Hruthvair, which were protected with a mobile shield array and both Admiral Luok's and Falser's flagships. The shield eventually gave way to concentrated fire, giving the Diabs a small window of opportunity to attack the vessels directly. The two vessels proved resilient to the barrage, but the battle took a sudden turn when a badly-damaged Cruiser accelerated its engines and made a beeline towards the Hruthvar. Rather than moving, the Hruthvar's commanding officer turned his ship towards the cruiser and prepared to fire; however, the commander had underestimated the charge time for the cannon, and the gun fired just as the Diab cruiser impacted. The result was a catastrophic detonation that destroyed the cruiser but severely damaged the Hruthvar's bow, crippling its main gun, killing or wounding hundreds of crew members, and disabling many of its weapons systems. Repzork ships moved to defend the crippled ship, with the Hruthvair placing itself between the Hruthvar and the Diabs, preventing them from landing any more hits on it. The mobile shields reactivated several minutes later, giving the Hruthvar sufficient time to escape the battle and return to the homeland for repairs. For his blunder, the Hruthvar's commanding officer would be stripped of his command and replaced.

Diab forces used the opportunity to push through a thinned section of the Pact's defenses and relocate their forces to a region outside of the range of Baltreos' Planet Cracker. Knowing that they may only have a few hours until they were back in the cannon's range, the Peacekeepers deployed all of their available ground forces in a bid to overwhelm the cannon. As the battle resumed in orbit, Peacekeeper forces on the ground established a landing zone and attacked nearby Warlord positions. The defenders were swiftly overwhelmed, but constant aerial harassment and Warlord orbital drops disrupted the Alliance's advance. Alliance ground forces set their sights on the port city of Avgorod, whose capture could allow for an amphibious assault on the Pact's command center. Like most settlements on the planet, the city had been extensively fortified with bunkers, hidden machine-gun nests, and entrenched anti-tank guns, but it lacked a large shield generator, allowing for artillery and air strikes. A blitzkrieg led by Monolith and Ironhead tanks shattered the defenses as troops stormed the city. After hours of intense street-by-street fighting, during which Diab fleets narrowly managed to elude the Planet Cracker's effective range, Avgorod was captured. But before an attack could be mounted on the Planet Cracker, General Likana, upon hearing of Avgorod's capture, authorized the use of one of the Repzork's RS-18s on the city. General Gusavig Wazari of the 355th, still wary of crystal weapons, was initially reluctant to use the device, but when it became clear that the Planet Cracker could very well be destroyed, gave his authorization. Diab ships attempted to shoot the missile down as it reached its peak altitude, but it broke into several warheads before they could do so. The Firestorm warheads sparked instantaneous and explosive crystal growth throughout the city upon detonation, creating what is known today as "The Demon's Scar". Almost all of the Diabs in Avgorod were killed save for those who had been extracted or a small few who had hidden themselves in shelters that had not been breached by crystals.

With their ground forces in shambles and the navy unable to make any further progress, the Peacekeepers retreated from Baltreos and returned to Diab space, signalling the end of Operation Iron Gauntlet. Warlord forces did not pursue, staying within the Foothold to rebuild. Both the 14th and 355th armada returned to the mainland for replenishment, their positions taken over by the 980th and 537th armadas respectively. Both the 355th and 14th would require years to replenish their numbers, with the 14th being out of commission for the next four years. With both sides exhausted from the past four years of fighting, no offensive operations would be undertaken in Diab space for the next two years, with only sporadic skirmishes occurring at the border of the foothold.

Though Repzork propaganda emphasized the Pact's victory at Baltreos and on other theaters, it proved impossible to minimize their catastrophic losses, particularly during the Battle of Helia, which had dramatic ramifications for the empire's involvement in the war. The previous four years remain the bloodiest and most destructive in Repzork history, with well over a billion casualties, of which tens of millions had died and countless more were disabled. Millions of armored vehicles and thousands of starships had also been damaged or destroyed. Of note was the namesake of the Battle of Helia, the 14th armada, which had been reduced to less than half of its original size; likewise, the 355th had lost roughly 45% of its fighting force. Proportionally, the Magellan military suffered similar losses, with their effective fighting force unfit for an anything more than defensive operations. Worse yet in the eyes of many in Imperial Command was that these losses had been for nothing; with the failure of the Keros Offensive, all of the Pact's territorial acquisitions had been erased save for Falkeos.

News of these disasters sparked outrage within the homeland. The general public, which was normally in favor of war, held demonstrations across the empire demanding that those who were responsible be held accountable and that the empire do more to protect its men; amid these protestors were also groups that opposed the war altogether and demanded that the Repzork abandon the conflict. Military and government officials also joined in on the protest. Officials operating in the foothold were quick to pin the blame on various factors, such as the Margan's disappearance, the Zaretian's withdrawal, the Magello, and each other. Emperor Zervath, speaking on behalf of the Marshal's Council, spoke on the matter in a speech a week after the Second Battle of Baltreos. He admitted that the Peacekeepers had put up more resistance than Imperial Command had initially anticipated, but that there was no one figure to blame for the disaster. The emperor also announced that all available civilian and military assets would be dedicated to the war, and that instead of pointing fingers, the public should instead focus on avenging the fallen by uniting against the 'Peacekeeper hordes'.

The controversy subsided soon after as the military worked to rebuild and mobilize its assets. Propagandists made use of both Zervath's words and the Diab campaign as a whole to drum up support for the war with slogans such as 'Vengeance for the 14th!".

Sentience Incident & Necraal Schism
King Horr'or had a keen interest in using the Biomatter Swarms as a weapon since news of the Dragoneteran's use of the swarms during their war with the Tegotian Empire first surfaced. Due to the taboo surrounding the use of the swarms amid both Warlord and Peacekeeper forces as well as the Necraal populace, the King kept these ideas to himself, fearing potential retaliation from his allies. But with the Warlords on the retreat in many fronts and Necraal casualties climbing, Horr'or initiated a weaponization program in the underground vaults of Ivn. This program was to be conducted with utmost secrecy, with all nonessential personnel, including Crown Prince Bael'thir, left uninformed. Creatures were collected from several hives and were experimented on to determine if it was possible to sever their connection to the hivemind. Testing on the brain eventually proved successful, but the result did little to change the behavior of the specimens, who continued to attack any and all who came near. Attempts to control the creatures via cybernetic implants, chemicals, or training all proved futile.

Roughly a month after the program had begun, King Horr'or unexpectedly invited Shaman Glad'mere to Ivn's vaults to take part in the project as an advisor. Glad'mere and his followers were known best for their fascination with the swarms, which they looked upon with a sort of religious reverence, which had made him an outcast among the Shamans and greatly disliked by many Necraal in high command, including Prince Bael'thir. Why Horr'or contacted Glad'mere remains unknown, but it is presumed that he believed that Glad'mere could provide information or guidance to help achieve his goals. Horr'or's demeanor changed shortly after Glad'mere joined the project; the king became insular, and he spent more and more time around the shaman.

With control seemingly impossible, Horr'or drastically altered the project's course. Beginning with prisoners, Horr'or would splice Biomatter DNA into that of the prisoners. The first several dozen experiments ended in failure, with each procedure creating mindless monstrosities that were almost immediately terminated after their creation. A breakthrough finally occurred when an Aeverian prisoner was spliced, and despite being severely mutated, retained his sanity. The subject proved inconsolable and was terminated like those before him, but to Horr'or and Glad'mere, it showed that the procedure was in fact possible, which led to the two beginning experiments on willing Necraal volunteers who were promised that they would become 'supersoldiers' that could turn the tide of the war.

As they began experimenting on Necraal, both Horr'or and Glad'mere started openly speaking of a being they referred to as 'Legion'. Legion was said to be the driving force behind the Biomatter, and was directing the actions of Horr'or and Glad'mere so as to 'uplift' the Biomatter race. Unease grew among those involved in the program. Some believed that stress from the war had pushed Horr'or into madness, or that the two had been exposed to Biomatter samples. Others thought that Glad'mere was manipulating the king and attempted to have him ousted, but their efforts were halted by the king. Others, however, had been in frequent contact with Glad'mere's followers and had come to believe in their doctrines. They gladly followed Horr'or's commands, with many willingly giving themselves up to experimentation. Fearing reprisal, those who thought disagreed kept quiet.

After a few failed attempts, scientists successfully created the first Necraal-Biomatter hybrid with samples from Fafnir. The first few subjects were still undeniably insane, suffering from bouts of severe aggression, but remained loyal to the king. Successive procedures would gradually diminish mental flaws, creating hybrid soldiers that were more or less as sane as before they underwent the procedure. These soldiers often spoke of compulsive feelings to perform certain acts and images that would flash through their minds, which some interpreted to be messages from Legion. These hybrids are then sent into cells containing Biomatter to observe how the creatures respond. Just as Horr'or had hoped, the Biomatter did not attack the Hybrid, and instead appeared to regard the soldier as one of its own. Hybrids were then deployed to a known Biomatter colony to the same result.

Once Horr'or had amassed a sizeable force of hybrids, he decided to test them against the ABTF. An outdated Necraal vessel was seeded with a spore and sent to the Flytal colony of Yintil. The spore had unintentionally landed near the planet's northern pole, but it still managed to establish a sizeable colony and threatened to overwhelm a nearby settlement until an ABTF response unit arrived. Late into the fighting, the Necraal hybrids, who had established a base on the opposite end of the planet, joined the fighting and opened a second front against the ABTF. The combined Necraal and Biomatter force completely overwhelmed the response unit, killing all but a few stragglers that narrowly managed to escape back to the main fleet. The battle, known shortly after as the 'Sentience Incident' in both Peacekeeper and Warlord media, incited panic across the region, as it was feared that the swarms had truly become sapient and would overwhelm the war-wary nations. More cool-headed public officials thought otherwise, and looked at the Necraal with suspicion, though the Kingdom denied any involvement. With this success, Horr'or became a devout follower of Legion, and became convinced that all Necraal, and eventually, life in the galaxy, was to become one with the swarms. He expanded his splicing program to amass more recruits while Glad'mere became a priestly figurehead, teaching new recruits of the tenants of Legion.

But even as the cult of Legion spread, there remained those who did not believe in it, and who in fact believed that Horr'or and Glad'mere's ambitions were going to bring the kingdom to ruin. Unwilling to remain idle any longer, three researchers managed to sneak out of Ivn's vaults with video and photographic evidence of the king's activities. They presented their evidence before unwitting military officials, who gradually worked their way up the chain of command before Bael'thir himself was notified of what had transpired. Horrified by his father's actions, Bael'thir resolved to overthrow Horr'or and purge the monarchy of the swarms at once.

This quickly proved to be no easy task; much of the monarchy remained oblivious to the king's ambitions, and more importantly, Bael'thir and his forces were stationed on the Karahotdoum front. Many Commandants were also operating in fronts elsewhere, tying down much of the Necraal military. To take Ivn, he would need assistance. The Crown Prince came before the Warlords and presented his case, requesting any help they could spare before it was too late. Both the Repzork and the Zaretians declared immediate support, with the Repzork pledging the support of the largely-nomadic 500th armada and subsequent reinforcements when available.

With Warlord backing, Bael'thir announced Horr'or's crimes to the kingdom and declared his intentions to claim the throne for himself. Fighting erupted throughout the kingdom almost immediately. Many had sided with Bael'thir, but there were those who still declared their allegiance to Horr'or either out of respect for his position or a belief that Bael'thir was lying and that the Pact had betrayed them and was attempting to establish a puppet government. Shortly after fighting began, a third led by Sa'i, the leader of the Tsu caste, declared their support for the Peacekeepers. Sa'i, once a firm supporter of the Pact's cause, had grown disillusioned as the war continued to drag on and the various crimes of the Pact became more common. These events also led to him favoring a democratic style of governing rather than the monarchists that permeated the Pact. Though there were many Alliance officials who doubted Sa'i, the opportunity to strike the Necraal while they were vulnerable was something Alliance command could not ignore. With Necraal forces withdrawing on all fronts, the Alliance amassed a fleet comprised of Karahotdoum, Diab, and Aeveria ships and moved into Necraal space.

Infighting also broke out along the Necraal's various fronts. Commandants Var and Scy'the both pledged their support to the king, while Tor supported Bael'thir. Before any of them could return to the mainland, they had to eliminate dissident elements within their fleets. Var and Scy'the would also have to contend with their former allies. Repzork and Zaretian forces along the Karahotdoum front attempted to eliminate Var and his forces. Even with their enemy divided, the ensuing battle proved catastrophic for the Pact. Necraal armor proved more than a match even for next-generation Pact equipment while poor communication, a chaotic battlefield, and attacks from the Karahotdoum left the Warlords disorganized, sometimes resulting in friendly-fire incidents with allied Necraal. After a few weeks of fighting, Var's forces would make a fighting retreat back to the homeland.

But while the Commandants would provide Horr'or with a distinct tactical advantage, he still found himself in a two-front war with himself and Ivn as the primary target of both of his opponents. The loyalist were outnumbered and rapidly losing ground on all fronts. To slow down the enemy's advance, Horr'or launched Biomatter spores wherever he could. He also spliced as many soldiers as he and his scientists were able. The king had also spliced himself, believing that a closer connection to Legion and the Biomatter's own abilities could help. Glad'mere reassured the king, declaring that the conflict was nothing more than Legion's way of separating the worthy from the weak. But on the field, Horr'or's use of the Biomatter only proved Bael'thir's claims, which resulted in many Necraal who had been loyal to the king switching their loyalties.

For Bael'thir, it became a race to reach Ivn before the Peacekeepers. Though fighting a mutual enemy, the two forces would still engage one another when they came into contact. Both sides engaged in a propaganda campaign to win the hearts and minds of the populace, especially as Horr'or's madness became more apparent. The crown prince had a distinct advantage in his intimate knowledge of Necraal space; his forces were often the first at strategic strong points such as industrial centers and forts, allowing him to scavenge the weapons, vehicles, and troops there. Though Sa'i and his followers were very dedicated, years of fighting the Peacekeepers had embedded itself into the population, and most proved unwilling to follow his footsteps.

Bael'thir and his Warlord entourage were the first to arrive at Ivn, which had already seen heavy fighting between the three factions. As Bael'thir's forces made landfall, Horr'or, made what would be one final act of defiance and deployed dozens of Biomatter spores across Ivn. The result was a vast infestation the likes of which had last been seen since Rotunin. The loyalist, with the swarm's assistance, nearly repelled Bael'thir's fleet, but the arrival of the Peacekeepers saw their offensive blunted. Realizing the scale of the infestation, both the Pact and Peacekeepers abandoned any hope of capturing the planet and instead focused on evacuating civilians. Despite constant fighting, millions of Necraal would be rescued by both sides before Ivn was abandoned and bombarded.

Horr'or and his remaining followers disappeared shortly after the Battle of Ivn, their fleets having fled into unexplored space as they were unable to continue fighting. Instead of pursuing the king, Bael'thir relocated his fleet to Phaeris to secure what remained of the empire. Pact forces remained behind to slow down the advance of the Peacekeepers. Mere hours after Bael'thir's departure, the Pact fleet suddenly lost contact with the Crown Prince. Fearing that he may have been assassinated, a scout was sent ahead, and found that Bael'thir, Phaeris, and the rest of the Necraal's colonies had been enveloped in a vast ion storm. The storm had severed communication with the Crown Prince and also disrupted space travel, making accurate jumps impossible. With no way to reach Bael'thir, the Pact abandoned the area, followed shortly after by the Peacekeepers and Sa'i, who was taken to the Aeveria Confederation for questioning.

With Bael'thir absent, leadership of Pact-aligned Necraal fell upon Commandant Tor. With no home to return to, his armies crippled, and hundreds of millions of refugees to care for, Tor looked to the Pact for assistance. The Marshal's Council were the first to step forward, allocating colonies for the Necraal to establish a population within imperial space despite protest from Veto Korvack and other officials. These settlements were provided both protection and the necessary aid to care for the wounded and to rebuild, but they were also subject to mass surveillance, as both Tor and the Marshal's Council feared infiltration by Horr'or's forces. For having assisted them during and after the schism, Tor and those under him would become fiercely loyal to the Pact. In time, they would rejoin the effort against the Peacekeepers, but with the Kingdom in ruins, they could not wage war on the same scale, their forces being limited to relatively small but elite units.

The events of the schism had a profound affect on the leader of the 500th Armada, Admiral Elseron Nethali. Nethali, who had not directly engaged in the Great War due to her assignment on the front against Tiamat, had already been somewhat of an outcast, believing that Repzork society was far too militaristic and authoritarian, though she kept these beliefs to herself as she believed eliminating Tiamat to be a righteous cause. News of the war had made her increasingly frustrated with Imperial Command, particularly events on the Diab front, such as the Battle of Helia. While on the offensive in Necraal space, Elseron had spoken with both soldiers and civilians that her forces had rescued. Their stories fully turned Nethali against the Warlord effort, as she believed that their methods and beliefs were self-destructive. She wanted to overthrow the Marshal's Council, but lacking the means to do so and fearing the consequences were she to be captured, she bided her time, hoping that an opportunity for revolt would one day present itself.

Those Necraal who had been evacuated by the Peacekeepers would spend weeks in processing to insure that no Warlord sympathizers nor loyalist were in their ranks. Sa'i himself was cleared of any suspicion, and was allowed to attend an ongoing talk between Peacekeeper leaders to speak his case. There were still many who distrusted the Necraal's intentions, and Sa'i had difficulty making any headway. This changed when a squad of Zaretian Nightshades infiltrated the meeting and attempted to kill Alliance officials. Sa'i and his entourage successfully eliminated the Nightshades in a short skirmish, winning over those who doubted him. Sa'i's forces were then granted membership into the Alliance. Sa'i's Necraal would establish themselves in a pocket of uncolonized space. Confident that the ion storms would one day pass, Sa'i made it his objective to eliminate Commandant Tor and claim the Pact-aligned Necraal before Bael'thir's return. Once the Crown Prince did return, Sa'i would focus his efforts on killing the monarch and claiming the throne, from which he would reunify his people.

Horr'or, Glad'mere, and their remaining followers would disappear for several months, during which Horr'or would infuse all who had not yet been injected with Biomatter DNA. Lacking the equipment they had possessed on Ivn, these infusions had a greater chance for error, resulting in sometimes severe side-effects. One of the most notable examples was Commandant Var, who was driven to insanity and grew a large, toothy mouth and a 'digestion system' that converted organic matter into Biomass that Biomatter could use. Despite this, Horr'or pressed on until his work was complete. With no wholly-Necraal forces left among their fleets, Horr'or's forces would become known as the Virisus.

It was also during this period that Horr'or, seemingly because of the weight of the events that had transpired, regained some of his lucidity. Though still a changed individual, Horr'or would eventually cease worshiping Legion and distanced himself from Glad'mere, viewing the Biomatter as more of a sword to be used rather than as beings deserving of worship. For some of the loyalist, this was a comforting change, as they were more loyal to Horr'or than they were to the shaman. Glad'mere's followers, however, saw the king as a fool, and continued their religious practices, forming the Cult of Legion in the process. Though they would still follow the king's commands, they would also act of their own accord when they saw fit.

With the ion storms blocking access to Bael'thir and the remaining Necraal colonies, Horr'or set his sights on enacting vengeance against those who he believed had betrayed him and destroyed the kingdom. Lacking the numbers for large-scale assaults, the Virisus would instead begin raiding thinly-defended targets, stealing supplies and eliminating or capturing all witnesses. They especially focused on Tor's and Sa'i's forces. The Cult of Legion would propagate Biomatter infestations, seeking to spread the doctrine of Legion via assimilation. Peacekeeper and Warlord forces alike would attempt to hunt down and eliminate the Virisus, but the loyalist would prove elusive, and continued to harass both parties for the next several years.

Karahotdoum Breakthrough on the Pact Front
With the Margan, Saracin, and now the Necraal effectively out of the war, the Repzork, alongside a dwindling Zaretian garrison, were the only major powers manning the vast front that had contained the bulk of the Karahotdoum's forces. Fighting against Var had only worsened the situation, with countless soldiers having been wounded or killed and large sections of the Pact's fortifications having been damaged during the fighting. The Karahotdoum had already begun to push the initiative during the Necraal Schism and had breached positions along the front and were contained only by costly counterattacks. With seemingly endless waves of Karahotdoum reinforcements arriving at the front, Imperial Command predicted that the Magistrate would soon overwhelm the defenders, leaving Repzork and Zaretian colonies vulnerable to invasion. High Marshal Tarsovis Visaria personally ordered the 77th and 150th Armadas to hold their ground and delay the Karahotdoum for as long as possible so that the mainland could prepare; they were to withdraw only when the High Marshal gave the order.

Lacking the troops necessary to adequately cover the entire front, the Pact laid out a vast number of passive and automated defenses in the form of mines, turrets, traps, and robots. Bunkers and other structures were rigged to explode, often releasing crystals or chemical agents in the process. Troops on the front were also supplied with experimental FTL mines. Operating in a sensor network connected to a buoy, the buoy would ping targets that the mines would then accelerate towards at FTL velocities similarly to an FTL torpedo. Though many of the mines were laid out in front of the Pact's defensive positions, the majority were laid out behind them, so that even when the Karahotdoum broke through, they would be unable to effectively pursue retreating Pact fleets.

Nearly a month following the end of the Necraal Schism, the Karahotdoum began a massive offensive across the front. In the span of a few days, numerous locations across the front had been breached, and the Pact initiated a scorched-earth campaign as they withdrew. Though artillery barrages had nullified some of the traps the Pact had laid, many of them operated as intended, inflicting casualties to the Karahotdoum and slowing their advance. Magistrate forces would also find themselves bombarded with crystal munitions, but they continued fighting regardless. Following the intentional destruction of one of the Pact's primary command centers via a nuclear warhead by Repzork forces, Tarsovis gave the order to retreat, and the 77th 150th evacuated the sector and moved to defensive positions in the mainland. The FTL mines proved instrumental in preventing the Karahotdoum from giving chase, stalling their advance until they eliminated the sensor buoys.

Nevertheless, the 77th and 150th had suffered heavy losses, and with the front disintegrated, billions of Karahotdoum troops flooded into Repzork and Zaretian space. The Karahotdoum swept through several outlying Repzork colonies, but as they pushed deeper, they encountered the empire's subterranean cities. Here, with much of their air power and artillery effectively nullified, the Karahotdoum found themselves at a distinct disadvantage. Intentionally confusing and maze-like layouts that led into kill zones, traps and automated defenses, civilian resistance, and the Repzork's expertise in subterranean warfare bled the Karahotdoum severely, forcing them to retreat in most engagements; even when the Karahotdoum were successful, the victory would often prove Pyrrhic at best. However, while many cities were difficult to assail, they were also effectively cut off from the empire as the Karahotdoum had overtaken the surface. The areas surrounding these cities would see near-constant fighting as Repzork reinforcements from deeper within the mainland arrived, especially as the empire neared complete mobilization.

Repzork-Xeverra Alliance
As Repzork forces advanced further into Betel space, they unwittingly encountered the so-called "Wikrix Wall", a sector of Betel space under the command of Voivode Yodd Wikrix that was on the forefront of the Recycler's ongoing conflict with the Xeverra, who had continued their attacks against the Recyclers since before the start of the Great War. In doing so, intelligence operatives would come across the broken remains of Xeverran robotic proxies, and eventually, witnessed Xeverran forces engaging the Betel. The Repzork promptly reached out to the Xeverran to discuss the possibility of an alliance against a common foe. The Xeverra agreed to cooperation on the Betel front, but when the Repzork attempted to induct them into the Pact, the Xeverra refused; they were by then aware of the dire situation the Pact found itself in, and Galden decided at the time that involvement in the war would be detrimental to its efforts.

Incident at Fehgrov
Main page: Incident at Fehgrov

Near the end of the year: Luminarian and Betel altercation.

The Hunted
A spore of Piru landed on a sizeable Nepharian colony. Initially, the Nepharians appeared victorious; the spore was quickly contained and destroyed. In truth, some of the Biomatter had survived by burying themselves deep underground. As the hive festered, mutariors moved to the surface and infected several individuals, but did so in a way that showed no outward symptoms. This allowed the host to gather near strategic locations undetected. It was then that the hive launched a second attack, emerging directly into the colony's capital. With the aid of their infected hosts, the Biomatter were able to subdue the city's defenders, and eventually, the planet

First Battle of Fehgrov
The Xeverra, through a bloody siege, capture the gas giant fortresses of Fehgrov (Name is Xeverran). This was a major regional point of power. (More later)

Outer-Worlds Assaults & Second Battle of Sevethos
With news of the Monarchy's withdrawal, the Diabs, three years after the Second Battle of Baltreos, mustered troops for another major push into the Pact foothold. With large-scale frontal assaults having proven too costly, the Diabs planned to attack the Foothold's "northern" flank, which was comprised of what had been several outlying colonies prior to the invasion. Once these colonies were retaken, the Diabs would then strike at the Pact's fortified logistics facilities, which were principally located at Sevethos and other nearby colonies. If successful, the operation would cut the foothold off from much-needed supplies while also drawing forces away from the front line, at which time the Diabs could open a second front.

Diab forces first attacked the gas giant of Glasos, which the Pact had been using as a local source of fuel for their energy weapons, and its many moons. Alliance forces quickly overwhelmed the planet's orbital defenses and simultaneously landed on a number of the inhabited moons. Pact forces initially resisted, but after days of fighting, it became clear that they would not be able to hold their ground, and withdrew to Glasos itself. Another round of fighting would see the Diabs victorious, but much of the planet's infrastructure would be destroyed, as the Repzork had rigged many of the gas-harvesting stations to self-destruct and plummet into the gas giant.

From Glasos they advanced towards Alavinos, which had by then been reinforced from troops from within the foothold and Glasos' garrison; however, reinforcements were not as plentiful as they could have been, as Imperial Command correctly predicted that the Diabs would open a second front, but did not know when, and as a result withheld troops for an attack that would not yet materialize. Diab forces successfully achieved orbital and aerial superiority over the planet, trapping Pact forces in their underground fortifications just as the Pact had done to the Diabs during Operation Sledgehammer. Fighting erupted through the underground tunnels as Repzork ships attempted to break the siege. Stiff resistance would delay the Diabs longer than planned, but after five months of fighting, Alvainos was liberated.

The last obstacle to Sevethos was Urdos, a planet which had suffered a particularly severe crystal infestation that rendered large swathes of the planet almost completely uninhabitable. Travel between the Repzork's scattered fortresses was possible only through narrow passages through fields of crystal or an underground railway, as imperial forces had built the bulk of their facilities at least partially underground so as to both avoid the crystals and to harvest ore. The Peacekeepers attempted to subdue the planet through aerial bombardment, but were repelled by constant anti-air fire, forcing them to commit to a ground assault through the crystalline labyrinth. Concentrated artillery fire combined with constant harassment from Pact troops trained to navigate the terrain frustrated the Diabs' effort. As the battle stalled, the Peacekeepers opened their second, larger front near Falkeos, forcing the Pact to divert troops to contain the threat. This did little to shift the Urdos campaign, which would remain at a stalemate until Diab forces were able to eliminate enough of the Pact's anti-air defenses to allow for bombardment. Not risking a repeat of Alvainos, Pact forces retreated, but not before the Peacekeepers captured thousands of demoralized prisoners.

With the path now open, Diab forces moved towards Sevethos, which alongside a sizeable garrison, was also guarded by several depleted Repzork and Magellan formations that were in the process of replenishment. Fierce fighting broke out throughout the system, but it would prove short-lived. Though Operation Counterweight had started three weeks prior to the battle, Marshals Ilivaris Kindasi and Veto Korvack pressured the rest of the Marahal's Council, who were focused squarely on repelling the Karahotdoum threat, to relieve the foothold with what were seen as troops desperately needed for Counterweight. High Marshal Tarsovis Visaria believed that Pact forces could hold their ground, but upon hearing of conflict at Sevethos, authorized a task-force to accompany a fleet of Necraal and Magellan ships entering the region. This task force included the Helia-Class Battlecruiser, the HLBC Nygalara. The relief force caught the Diabs by surprise and successfully repelled them from the system after nine hours of fighting. With the attack at Sevethos a failure, the second front was called off. Urdos, Alvainos, and Glasos were all abandoned by the Peacekeepers and fell back into Warlord hands.

Operation Counterweight
The Karahotdoum invasion of Repzork space had proven to be pivotal in uniting the population against the Peacekeepers following the disasters of the previous years; though many still criticized the actions of certain military officials, none could deny the threat right on their doorstep, and many who had protested now found themselves doing everything in their power to support the war effort. Frequent but oftentimes costly counterattacks had stalled the Karahotdoum's advance and bought time for the mainland to complete full mobilization. This allowed the military to draw in countless recruits and boost weapons and equipment production to record levels. The timing was fortunate in that the Repzork's next-generation equipment, which had proved itself during recent engagements, was pressed into service and enjoyed rapid production. As this was taking place, the Marshal's Council drafted Operation Counterweight, a vast offensive that aimed to relieve the besieged underground cities and repel the Karahotdoum from imperial space. For this operation the 355th armada, which had by then completed replenishment, was sent to support the 77th and 150th. Commandant Tor, with the Necraal having settled, volunteered to take part in the operation as a show of good will to the Pact and to ensure the safety of his people's new home.

After weeks of harassment and sabotage operations by special operations units, Operation Counterweight began with a titanic frontal assault across the entire front. Karahotdoum positions were pounded with tens of millions of artillery shells and bombs as armored columns protected by mobile shield generators engaged the defenders in what culminated in some of the largest tank battles in imperial history. Necraal forces exploited breaches in the Karahotdoum's defenses to wreck further havoc. Though the Karahotdoum put up a determined fight throughout the entire operation, the Pact made staggering gains over the course of the next several months, pushing the Karahotdoum to a few heavily fortified positions near the edge of imperial space. But before they could engage, Operation Dark Angel, the Galderan invasion of the empire, began, forcing the Repzork to divert the majority of their troops to contain the threat as the rest contained the Karahotdoum.

Operation Dark Angel
Four years prior, while the Battle of Helia was in full swing, explorers from the Empire of Galdera unintentionally crossed into Repzork territory. The Repzork hailed the explorers' captain, a Nevelin, as ships were sent to apprehend the fleet. But instead of following their orders, the captain, coincidentally an expert on Galderan history, narrowly escaped and returned to the Galderan mainland, the Repzork having lost track of the explorers shortly after their escape. The captain reported his findings to the Colonization Board, who then reported it to Galderan high command. Recognizing that the Repzork were likely the ancient Kalrians who had escaped the Nolsarians during the Wars of Unification two millennia prior, high command placed a gag order on the explorers as they determined a course of action. Some were excited at the notion of meeting their long-lost brethren, and wanted to embrace them with open arms. But most officials, including both Empress Kazadair III and Xelva Ahkavas Teldiv, preferred a far more cautious approach, believing that even after all the time that had passed, the Repzork would still prove hostile. It was decided that spies and remote drones would be deployed into Repzork space to acquire more information.

The Galderans monitored the Repzork over the next four years, during which they learned much about their history, culture, and of their involvement in the Great War. The Galderans were appalled by what had become of the Repzork, but concern shifted to the Warlord Pact as a whole, as continued expansion would inevitably bring the two powers into conflict. The Galderans resolved to subdue the Repzork and bring a final end to the Wars of Unification while crippling the Warlords before they could became a major threat. To foster support, high command released their findings to the general public. The public was almost unanimously in favor of war, with the notable exception of certain Kalrian nationalists minorities, who were unwilling to fight their own brethren despite the circumstances. Their voice fell on deaf ears as Kazadair's call for war against the Warlord Pact was approved by the senate and the military began mobilizing its troops. Ahkavas Teldiv took command of the operation while the Valdar theater fell under the authority of Valxelva Kelevien Valrus.

The Galderans aimed to attack the Repzork on two fronts. The first front, designated "West", was to take place near where the explorers had made initial contact, as it was lightly guarded by the Repzork due to low activity. The second front, designated 'East', would open in the regions most affected by the Great War. The long-term goal of the operation was for the two offensives to meet near the Outcasts Sphere, bisecting Repzork space and inciting rebellions among dissidents and disgruntled client states. The two offensives would then push towards Alrukai and the core worlds. Once the Repzork were defeated, the Galderans would focus fully on the remaining Warlords. But before any such attack could be mounted, the Galderans needed to prepare their logistics. While the Western front could be supplied directly from the mainland, the Eastern front was at the opposite end of Repzork space, thousands of light years from Galderan territory. Traditional supply lines to the region would be both over-extended and threatened by constant harassment. The Galderans instead planned to use Valdar Warpgates to move troops and supplies into the region, though they first needed to be built. Over the course of a year, the Galderans would probe for a suitable location to set up a base of operations. Once it had been found, they covertly moved troops and resources into the area to begin construction. Five uninhabited planets were selected, with their headquarters becoming Zykorus.

Three months into the fourteenth year of the war, the Galderans launched their attack. Empress Kazadair broadcasted a message throughout the region declaring the Galdern's intentions as Ahkavas' forces simultaneously attacked the Eastern and Western fronts. Troops on the Western front poured into the lightly-defended sector, besieging several colonies before imperial troops could respond. At the Eastern front, Galderan fleets under the command of Viers Helgva Desenvi and Fortsa Lonvai attacked the rear guard of the 77th, 150th, and 355th, threatening to cut them off from the mainland. Though blindsided by the sudden invasion, Imperial High Command, determined to defeat the Old Enemy, responded swiftly, ordering a halt to all offensive operations to focus on the Galderans. With the 77th staying to contain the Karahotdoum, the 150th and 355th turned around to engage the Galderans. They were soon joined by the 14th armada, who had completed replenishment a mere five days before the attack.

Elsewhere, Xenuran Vier, Togale Noka Salura Xethram, moved her troops into Betel space to take on the 489th and Xeverra. Though the Galderans had made it clear that they had no intentions of joining the Peacekeepers, they sought to support them whenever possible, and assisting the Recyclers would deal a blow to the Repzork while earning good will with the Alliance and potentially securing future trade deals with the Betel government. The 489th, its forces stretched across numerous Betel colonies and unprepared for such a large-scale assault, suffered heavy losses and were forced to abandon several positions. But while the Recycler government was willing to work with the Galderans, poor or nonexistent communication between colonies resulted in many Betel not understanding what was happening. This led to many friendly fire incidents in which Betel troops fired upon the Galderans, believing them to be Repzork soldiers. These attacks were occasionally met with retaliation due to concerns over Decomp agents. A frustrated Togale, to avoid further incidents, ordered her forces to keep a certain distance away from Betel positions, and to instead focus solely upon repelling the Pact. This worked to the Repzork's advantage, and combined with Xeverran support, allowed the 489th to regroup and prepare a proper defense, though a number of key Betel holdings had already been lost.

Galderan forces made considerable gains throughout the year, but it came at a heavy cost. The Galderans, like the Naelkvan they had defeated three decades prior, had underestimated the scale of the Repzork's industry, military, and the morale of their troops. As the Galderans deployed more and more troops into the conflict, so to did the Repzork, whose forces engaged the invaders with a near-suicidal zeal, their ancient grudge having been kept alive through their belief in Oltavar. Galderan casualties climbed rapidly, especially on the Eastern front, where the Galderans predominantly fought veterans seasoned from over a decade of war. But with the Repzork simultaneously fighting the Karahotdoum and Diabs, both of whom took advantage of the situation, the Repzork were unable to halt the Galderan's advance, while on the Betel front, they were unable to push any further into Recycler space or reclaim lost ground.

Second Battle of Fehgrov
The Galdera, as part of a wider offensive, drive the garrisoned Xeverra from Fehgrov. (More on this later)

Battle of Zykorus
Shortly after the Second Battle of Norsus, the Golden Blade launches attack against the Galderan fortress world of Zykorus, temporarily plunging imperial forces into disarray. After fierce fighting, the Galderans repel the invaders and call for reinforcements from the mainland. [WIP]

Repzork Withdrawal from Betel Space
With the Galdera's arrival, and Repzork forces spread thin attempting to maintain a costly occupation of Recycler worlds, the executive decision is made to call off the slowing invasion and refocus efforts. The Repzork engage in a scorched earth policy involving heavy use of Margan crystals. Valuable equipment and prisoners are taken in final militia operations, but immense damage had been done.

Schism of the 500th
Repzork Admiral Elseron Nethali, commander of the 500th 'Purity of Flames' Armada, defects to the Empire of Galdera, sparking infighting within the military and disrupting the Repzork's anti-Biomatter operations. [WIP]

Blitz of Nizo III
The Asanian-occupied Rach world of Nizo III was retaken when a stealthed Empire city launched a blitzkrieg against the Syndicate. The new Gorgon tank and artillery combined with classic Rach tactics made the battle a significant victory