The Great War

The Great War, also known as the War, was a system-wide conflict that lasted from XIV Marrus, 3703 to IX Nocta, 4856, totaling approximately 1,153 years of sustained combat campaigns. Fighting mainly took place on Tavaari and Solstice, as well as on the moon Indelible and open space surrounding Calderia, Tavaari, Venrar, and Rhaegar. Combat during the early stages of the war were characterized by starship skirmishes, capital ship battles, planet-side ground strikes, and trench warfare. Towards the end of the war the tactics had shifted drastically to guerilla warfare, ambush tactics, scorched earth policies, and the system's first chemical weapons deployments. The Great War remains the deadliest conflict in Solanis history, with an estimate 24 trillion dead, 22 trillion wounded, and 7 million missing. This conflict also saw the death of Samuel, as well as the complete extinction of the Wokani.

The Elites

The Elites, first introduced to Solanis during the Siege of Rhaegar, were post-human descendants of the humans that left Old Earth on the Gen-Ships. During the roughly 1,500 years that the Gen-Ships cruised through open space, their inhabitants grew to scarcely resemble the humanity they originated from. Due to the seclusion of each Gen-Ship, the Elites that inhabited them differed from ship to ship. Many followed similar themes of seeking 'perfection' and performing experiments on themselves and the passengers aboard the ships. These experiments varied in acuity, ranging from slight DNA alterations to complete mutilation or replacement of biological mass. The variation in nature between Gen-Ship Elites also caused much strain on logistics throughout the conflict, as different strategies needed to be implemented for each iteration of Elite that entered combat.

3699 | First Gen-Ship Sighted

The human colonies of Rhaegar were the first to sight a Gen-Ship, a long-range telescope noticing movement on the edge of the system. Since the Rhaegarian colonies were not in good standing with Pangea at the time due to their succession, the warnings Rhaegar issued were widely ignored. The colonies of Rhaegar sent a ship to act as an envoy to the unidentified vessel, which went dark after making contact with the larger ship. This raised alarm across Rhaegar, though due to the planet not having any shipyards of its own it was only able to assemble a small defensive fleet.

3703 | Siege of Rhaegar

The Siege of Rhaegar is thought to be the first actual battle of the Great War. The previously sighted Gen-Ship, later identified as the "Größe", closed in on Rhaegar with its engines at full burn. The colonies of Rhaegar, working under an ad hoc unified command structure, fielded a total of 2 destroyers and a cruiser, which brought with it a complement of 8 fighters. The small fleet met the Gen-Ship just outside Rhaegarian atmosphere, after multiple attempts to establish communications with the ship to issue warnings against landing until identified. The Gen-Ship opened fire with a large-scale railgun style cannon, later nicknamed a hullbuster, which destroyed one of the destroyers. The complement of fighters moved to intercept fighters deployed by the Gen-Ship as the cruiser and surviving destroyer, named Camael and Matriel respectively, began a coordinated counter assault. The Rhaegarian fighters quickly fell back to defend their ships as they began losing superiority against what seemed to be more technologically advanced craft, with battle intelligence suggesting they were in fact unmanned drones. The Camael maneuvered into a position where it could bring all its turrets to bear on the Gen-Ship while the Matriel moved to target the enemy ship's engines. Even with the combined firepower of a full salvo from Camael and Matriel, the Größe remained in not just in the fight, but in motion. A second firing from the hullbuster crippled the Camael, forcing it to begin an emergency landing on the planet. The Größe continued its descent into Rhaegarian atmosphere, with the Matriel still in pursuit. Eventually the Matriel began a ramming maneuver, but was disabled in-atmosphere from the focused cannons of the Größe. The Matriel crashed just outside of Elysium, the largest of the Rhaegarian colonies, with all hands on board. The Größe continued its course, landing on Rhaegarian soil unopposed.

Archives from Samuel of the Größe that had left Old Earth did not match the current Größe that had entered Solanis space. Samuel hypothesized that in the millenia that the ship had been cruising, its inhabitants had modified the ship to an unrecognizable state as they themselves evolved. Combat footage from the colonies closest to the Größe's landing showed fighters that did not appear human. They moved in strange fashions and sported a completely different biological structure. These post-humans were then named 'Elites', and would be referred to as such for the duration of the war.

Of the 7 colonies around the area of the Größe's landing, 6 went completely silent within the first 24 hours. The last one continued to fight for three days before it too fell. The remaining colonies, not wanting to see the new enemy spread to their areas, sent whatever ships they had left to isolate the Größe. Armed with high-yeild ordinance, the Rhaegarian colonies performed a five day bombardment of the area immediately surrounding the Größe. While not halting the progress of the Elites, it did slow them down and alter the terrain enough to provide the colonies enough time to prepare for an extended siege. By 3704, most Rhaegarian colonies had consolidated to Elysium and erected a large energy field around the city. 3705 marked the actual beginning of the Siege, with Elites surrounding Elysium and laying waste to any colony that had not joined.

3712 | The Coalition Forms

In response to the siege on Rhaegar, Pangea began organizing its current relatively small standing army into a larger fighting force. A portion of the standing Pangean army, renamed the Pangean Expeditionary Corps, deployed its first military assets to Rhaegar in 3714. The 12th Infantry Division landed on Rhaegar in 2714, consisting of 3 infantry brigades, an armored brigade, an airborne support brigade, an engineering support brigade, and an HQ Battalion with an attached intelligence battalion which remained on the PNF Stalwart to coordinate attacks and transmit gathered intelligence back to Calderia.

3731 | First Elite Fleet

A collection of elite ships

3819 | Landing on Solstice and Indelible

Siege of Ultima 2, Western warfare

3997 | Fall of Venrar

The dwarves go underground

4025 | Tavaari jungle warfare

Fortunate Son plays

4100 | Total War

Explain each theater

4315 | Chemical Attacks

Deployed by both sides, a la cold war

4602 | Desolation of Larvone

THE desolation

4617 | Major Offensive

Revenge

4683 | FTL hack

The Elites hack Samuel

4720 | Samuel's Sacrifice

Deletes himself & knowledge

4820 | The Elites cornered on Rhaegar

First landing, last stand

4856 | Elite's Extinction

To the last