Necraal Schism

Necraal-Biomatter Splicing
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.

Sentience Incident
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.

The Schism
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.

Battle of Ivn
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.

Aftermath
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.