History of the Spacefaring Civilizations of Elyrion

Below is detailed the general histories of Elyrion. The time between the rise of Anazca and the present day is divided into 4 major eras, each of which is then further subdivided into important periods. For further information about the Standard Star Date (SSD) system, see Date and Timekeeping.

The First Civilization - The Rise of Anazca to the Meeting of Species - 1300 PSSD-0 SSD

Birth of the Eldest Nation, 1300-1000 PSSD

• 1300 PSSD: The Conclave is founded.
• 1296 PSSD: The first Anaszcan space colony is officially recognised by the Conclave.
• 1138 PSSD: The first Anaszcan colony outside their home system is founded.
• 1126 PSSD: Anaszcans experience an arcane renaissance.
• 1120 PSSD: New insights into arcane science are used to create the first primitive FTL drive; this early drive type relied on magical currents to contain Starheart energies.
• 1117 PSSD: The Conclave re-establishes contact with the first interstellar colony.
• 1115 PSSD: The Conclave officially endorses the study of arcane techniques.
• 1100 PSSD: The Conclave initiates a mass reformation suitable for administration of an interstellar civilisation on its 200th anniversary.
• 1050 PSSD: Conclave records state that the number of inhabited systems is 428.
• 1045 PSSD: A magical storm resets the positions of many major ley-lines, isolating many territories held by the Conclave. Many establish independence.
• 1036 PSSD: The Conclave officially declares that it has re-established complete unity and continues to resume operations as  usual. However, Resentment continues to simmer. This does not go unnoticed.
• 1020 PSSD: Rumors begin to spread of secret Conclave projects designed to put down rebellions with impunity; these are said to include biological, chemical, magical, and nuclear weapons.
• 1002 PSSD: Riots break out in several systems after discontent reaches a breaking point, brought to bear by the leakage of secret government documents. Multiple planets break out into full-scale civil war before being brutally crushed, often via the application of excessive force: the rumors of previous years are in part confirmed.

The Oran Schism, 1000-500 PSSD

• 1001 PSSD: Patrician Jainteyi’ra-vosli’tsi-Oran of the Oran clan writes a petition to reform the Conclave, fearing it is well on its way to becoming a corrupt and despotic regime.
• 1000 PSSD: On the Conclave's 300th anniversary, celebrations are held throughout the state; Patrician Jainteyi'ra-vosli'tsi-Oran's body is found hidden within a transport bound for the nearest waste disintegration unit.
• 1000 PSSD: Patrician Jainteyi'ra-vosli'tsi-Oran's death is investigated by police; the cause of death is declared to be accidental due to handling biological weapons bound for a terrorist attack on the home system. The late Patrician is declared a traitor and desecrated, all depictions either being defaced or removed entirely.
• 1000 PSSD: The Oran Clan denies accusations of complicity; it denounces the Anaszcan government for suggesting such a possibility.
• 999 PSSD: Evidence [many suggest it was intentionally planted] is found incriminating the Oran Clan; in response, they and their supporters begin a civil war that almost entirely consumes the Conclave's Northeastern territories. The Oran Clan and their allies safely escape to a region in Mal Pacifica. The Oran Schism has taken place.
• 995 PSSD: Countless worlds are ruined by the interstellar war that resulted at this point in time. Despite this, the civil war remains in a deadlock; neither side is gaining on the other.
• 994 PSSD: The Oran Clan declares hegemony over the systems surrounding their and their allies’ fleet bases, and begins to focus effort on long-term habitation.
• 994 PSSD: A vast archival and experimental research program on the subject of the magical storms that destabilised the Anaszcan Conclave is initiated by the Kingdom of Oran.
• 990 PSSD: The Kingdom of Oran begins to establish magical observatories throughout secured territory.
• 988 PSSD: Noticing recent actions and trends within the Kingdom of Oran, the Conclave suspects the development of a weapon of mass destruction building on the various projects that were undertaken before the Oran Schism. It begins work on a superweapon of its own.
• 976 PSSD: The Kingdom of Oran conducts its first test of enforced disharmony on a massive scale; the resulting explosion managed to cause massive and irreparable damage to the surface and internal structure of the target moon, although the primitive equipment used and poor coordination seriously limited its effectiveness.
• 976 PSSD: In response to the blatant threat from Oran, the Conclave conducts a test of its own using a humongous laser powered by interstellar ley-lines, which vaporized  sections of a planetoid’s crust, destabilizing its internal structure and rendering it useless for decades. However, the deities of the ley-line responded extremely negatively, resulting in the partial destruction of the weapon; Unfortunately, extreme secrecy by the Conclave meant that Oran was unaware of the divine response to these technologies.
• 975 PSSD: Both parties declare a state of national emergency, attempting to outdo one another in the effectiveness of the weapons being constructed. Overt military operations cease to prevent provocation, although neither nation was aware that the gods had vowed never to power these weapons. This marks the beginning of a cold war between the two nations.
• 962 PSSD: After a period of continued testing and development, the Kingdom of Oran finally succeeds in redirecting a planetary ley-line. Continuous improvement upon the tools, techniques, and coordination results in the introduction of enough uncontrolled energy, inefficiency, and resistance to force it to take another path entirely.
• 942 PSSD: After a period of reconstruction and re-ideation, the Conclave succeeds in powering their station via indirect linking of the ley-line and the weapon, which has now overtly been repurposed for mining stars, generating matter, and studying high-energy collisions on a cosmic scale. This succeeds, and results in the production of more antimatter than the Conclave can use, along with other exotic substances. The power couplings required have made the device significantly less practical, however, necessitating additional research and development. The applications of these materials results in a small economic boom in the underground private sector, although it is stifled by corruption and government regulation.
• 939 PSSD: Having improved even further on techniques, equipment, and communications, the Kingdom of Oran finally attempts to sever a planetary ley-line. The plan succeeds, and the ley-line is completely destroyed; the resulting release of energy, however, resulted in the inadvertent destruction of the planet, along with all of the personnel and equipment in orbit around it. While a huge setback, the Kingdom of Oran can now begin work on the main project with the success of the proof of concept: the severing of ley-lines on an interstellar scale. However, severing ley-lines drew the ire of the gods, and the High Divines vowed to re-forge the severed links stronger than ever before.

A Great Silence - The Ley Wars, the Fall, and the Silence - 984-2230 SSD

The First Ley War, 984-1016 SSD

• 984: The buildup of tensions between the UCS and Oran reaches a breaking point. UCS strike fleets launch offensive actions deep in Oran space, accompanied by a declaration of war from both sides. The Federation joins on the side of the UCS, while proxy battles in the East only intensify. Both government impose states of emergency.

>996-1014: In a series of battles near the now war-torn border, Orani superweapons devastate regional ley-lines, cutting off sectors on both sides of the border for several decades.

• 1014: Oran and UCS border sectors begin independently negotiating for peace. This kicks off a period of political instability within the UCS (then in the midst of a contentious election cycle) and Oran (where popular dissatisfaction with the ruling clan's leadership was beginning to trickle up the ranks), as anti-war factions vie for power with hawks who see the talks as an opening to strike a decisive strategic blow. The delicate politics of the Oran court mean that these challenges to the leadership represent a real threat to the Kingdom's stability.

• 1016: A much weakened Orani regime sues for peace. Having emerged with a governing majority in the 1015 elections, UCS moderates accept, and talks begin.
• 1017: Peace talks result in a preservation of the status-quo between the UCS and Oran. The Treaty Provisional Government (TPG) is established to rule over disputed territory claimed by Oran and the Federation. A Demilitarized Zone is created between the UCS and Oran. Both sides declare the peace a victory, though it is clear that many tensions have not been diffused.

The Treaty Peace, 1017-1095 SSD

>1017-1092: The damage wrought to the Aether by both sides of the First Ley War shows worrying signs of both permanence and growth. The Navigator and the Forgemaster begin to work to stabilize the damaged ley-lines. Authoritarian-leaning parties, buoyed by the popular memory of UCS military heroism, grow from a fringe movement to a substantial force in Congressional politics, casting several critical votes to continue the state of emergency imposed at the start of the Ley Wars.

>1092-1095: Many isolated border sectors are reconnected to the galaxy. Angered by the terms of the peace deal which prevented significant aid or support from flowing to the DMZ, they declare independence from their former states and refuse to return the fleets stationed in their space.

The Last Ley Wars, 1095-1147 SSD

>1095-1133: The UCS and Oran are occupied by civil war with the breakaway territories.

• 1104: The TPG, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the civil wars, rapidly consolidates power over its territory, seizing control of all military forces stationed within its borders and mustering armed merchant vessels for service.
• 1133: The royal family of Oran attempts to flee a popular revolt in the Orol system. The ruler of the presumed-safe provisional system, seeing a chance to seize power, has them executed upon arrival. The new monarch is a vegetable, and the backing regent is corrupt and incompetent. The notion of central power, at this point, is laughable.

>1133-1141: With its political machinery totally fractured, Oran’s civil wars spread from the border sectors to the home system; an assortment of monarchist, revolutionary, and secessionist factions emerge from the initial chaos, all violently seeking the throne.

• 1141: The now-ruling authoritarian parties of the UCS escalate the state of emergency in place since 980, cancelling Congressional elections amidst increasingly unfavorable polls. The uproar is as violent as it is sudden, and a handful of core sectors secede from the UCS in protest. The ruling party condemns the secession as treason, and declares war.

>1143: With the guarantors of the ley treaty indisposed or dissolved, the Federation demands the integration of the TPG’s territories. The TPG refuses, and the Federation declares war.

The Fall, 1147-1189 SSD

• 1147: Breakaway and rebel UCS fleets clash with the central government in the Rathyn system. The UCS deploys its most advanced Aether weapons in an effort to crush the ‘traitors’ decisively. The weapon is destroyed during its firing process, and the resulting magical turmoil results in an unstable rift in space being formed.

>1147-1159: The tremendous instability unleashed by the Rathyn cataclysm critically damages the patchwork holding together the ley-lines. Energetic defects rapidly spread through space, inducing vast starstorms and tearing apart the ley-line network. The defects reach the Beacon in 1156, instantaneously vaporising countless systems and habitats within the Core Wastes. As the energies dissipate the gods extinguish the beacon, desperate to preserve their stronghold. With neither ley-lines nor the exertions of the gods, Starheart energy vanishes from Elyrion, ushering in an age of stellar darkness.

>1158-1162: With no new sources of arcane energy to power merchant vessels, exotic technology, and weapons, most remaining governments attempt to ration what remains to keep communications systems and life support operational whilst supplying outlying colonies and stations; rogue fleets make short work of orbital reservoirs and station batteries, however, rendering interstellar travel impossible.

• 1189: the last faster-than-light transmission is made, broadcast from Dalamon H83. “Our batteries are low, and it’s getting quiet and cold. This is our last call”.

Age of Pacts - Reconstitution of Interstellar Civilization - 2230-2564 SSD

The Compact Directorate, 2357-2452 SSD

• 2357: The Nova Compact creates the Office of the Directorate, its first centralized executive office, and substantially increases its central levies, hoping to use the funds and new administrative capacity to more closely integrate its diverse systems, invest in infrastructure across the Compact, and more effectively direct the Compact Star Fleet. The move is intensely controversial: although worlds along the Novabridge are narrowly in favor of the move, it is unpopular in the outlying sectors who believe that the Directorate, initially led by Dareen Ev Aldeevsen of High Steelforge, will only serve to further the economic gap between the Compact's Novabridge core and poorly-traveled hinterlands.

>2360-2385: Despite the relative moderation of the Ev Aldeevsen administration and its immediate successors, the investment gaps feared by outlying worlds do materialize. Frequent protest votes fail to stop the Directorate's executive power from creeping beyond its initial mandate. Talk of secession begins to swirl around the Inner Pacifics and the Jade Reach.

• 2384: Compact Star Fleet antipiracy operations are significantly stepped up across the Compact's outer regions. Although tentatively welcomed by member worlds suffering from outlaw raids, many suspect the move is at best political theatre and at worst a show-of-force intended to cow restive planets into remaining within the Compact.

>2386-2415: Expansions to the Star Fleet brought about by a higher pace of operations and a withdrawal of close collaboration with the planets most adamantly opposed to the Directorate sows alarm among its opponents.

>2406-2430: A steady stream of outlying planets, incensed at the lack of support from the politically influential worlds of the Novabridge, either sharply restrict or altogether cease their payment of Compact levies, and participation in the single market in protest, effectively leaving the Compact, although many continue to send delegations to Congress. Despite protestation from the Directorate that the strategy unlawfully circumvents the terms of the Compact, Congress blocks initiatives to penalize or sanction the rebellious systems.

• 2431: Incensed at the fraying Compact control of the periphery, the Directorate's forces a vote to prevent Congress from meeting with "illegitimate" delegates in its Academia chambers.

• 2450: The High Steelforge Federal Authority officially withdraws its support from the Directorate, exiting the provisional single market and causing an economic crash in the remaining Compact core worlds. Despite official statements pointing to the longstanding issues of inequitable infrastructure spending, it is widely believed to have been the result of the Gallagen administration's attempts to force the Authority to give up control of its out-of-system colonial exports.
• 2451: The Directorate caves to the demands of the congress worlds and agrees to surrender control of the Academia and the Compact Star Fleet to congress. Starships from from the Federal Space Force of High Steelforge and other congress worlds are dispatched to ensure a smooth handover. Although the handover goes smoothly, a skirmish erupts between a Compact Star Fleet cruiser and a flight of Federal Space Force starfighters around a planetoid in the Campher system, near Academia station, resulting in the cruiser being disabled and two Federal starfighters being destroyed.