Rach Theatre

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.

Formation 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.

Year 1: Pact Counterattack
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.

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'.