Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
The Complete History of the Final War
Topic Started: Aug 9 2006, 05:40 PM (574 Views)
Specialist290
Member Avatar
Admin-type Guy
I often get these sudden urges to write something. My "first" (and still unfinished) RPG was the end result of one of these urges; it was originally going to be a story, but around the time RPGs became popular on this forum, I decided it would be better as an RPG. Needless to say, it's still unfinished so far, and will probably stay so for a very long time.

Anyway, this is another product of one of those "calls" to write something. I normally write using pen and paper (or notebook), but since I'm on vacation and don't have either of those readily available, I've decided to post this on the forum.

I've "borrowed" a few alien species from a few popular 4x space strategy games, so some of the aliens may seem a bit familiar. Just thought I might warn you about that.

Enjoy :)

----------

THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE FINAL WAR
Between the United Empire of Mankind and the Arcanian Dominion of Worlds

Compiled in the 596th year of the Second United Empire of Mankind and Affiliated Species, being the 20957th year of the Common Reckoning dating from the establishment of the First Empire, and the 3185th year after the Collapse, as well as the 45th year of the Emperor Anmeth-Tamarax, Imperator and Lord of the Second Empire of Mankind, etc., may his reign be long and glorious.

(Editor's Note: Post-Restoration documents often have long titles such as this.)

PROLOGUE
The Final War, like so many other conflicts throughout history that have received such designations, was grossly mislabeled; it was certainly not the final war ever to be fought, nor even the final war fought between two superpowers spanning the galaxy. Countless conflicts have been fought since, with varied degrees of intensity and scales of distance and time, and many over more trivial contentions.

However, the Final War can indeed claim a few "lasts" to its credit. It was, obviously, the last war in which many of its participants fought, as well as the last war that many innocent noncombatants were caught up in the middle of. It was also the last war in which other-dimensional propulsion ("hyperdrive") was employed in large-scale space assaults--after the Collapse, with interstellar infrastructure among most surviving settlements effectively wiped out, it was almost impossible to assemble all of the supplies necessary to build and fuel such engines in one place, forcing interstellar travel to revert to dependance on the older and much slower warp drive and slipstream drive systems; travel times between nearby systems were once again measured in weeks or months rather than days and rendering voyages from one end of the galaxy to the other effectively impossible for centuries to come.

The Final War also had its share of "firsts": The first war in which the technique of world-burning was used extensively, and in which it was refined into an "artform" (to the extent that such can be considered an art); the first war to directly involve nearly the entire galaxy in conflict, leaving thousands of burnt worlds and uncounted dead in its wake; and, perhaps most significantly, the first "apocalyptic war" in which both parties fought each other almost literally to death. As the war progressed and the atrocities continued to mount, the original cause of the war became obscured by a sense of ever-increasing mutual bloodlust until it reached the point where the war could only end with the complete destruction of one or both of its instigators, a scenario which is exactly what happened--the Collapse, the death of the United Empire and the Dominion.

Not every action of the Final War has been recorded, partly due to the sparsity of surviving records (and the accompanying lack of populations to preserve them), but mainly due to the sheer scale of the conflict. An attempt to create a detailed account of the war, even with the relatively few surviving records available, would be incredibly exhaustive in content; therefore, the history presented in this account serves as merely a "brief" summary of the Final War, with depth of treatment varying in relation to the presence of information regarding the war and the relative importance of the actions discussed. Those wishing for greater information regarding their planet, system, or region may consult the appropriate library databanks for their area of interest, as well as countless informal collections of anecdotes transmitted through oral traditions and folktales. Nor does this account present itself as "complete" even as a summary--as mentioned previously, there are entirely too many gaps in the historical record to fill with speculation and conjecture, and it is entirely possible that future discoveries may shed light on various aspects of the conflict and the subsequent period of decline in its aftermath. What it does cover, however, has been extensively researched, collected, and collated by numerous authorities across the Second Empire, and attempts to be a truthful account of the Final War.
Posted Image
AK-47? Check
Fedora? Check
Fur coat? Check
Sunglasses? Check
Good to go...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Bob 121
Member Avatar
Librarium Adept
Hey, I liked it! Very official sounding and professional not to mention interesting. Are you planning on expanding or writing a tie-in story or something?
Try AE: Its awesome (I'm in Alpha server with Bluemofia)
Posted Image

Posted Image

Check out my story and I will be your servant for a whole day PLUS you could win a FREE TOASTER! (Offer void in IL, CO, and NY.)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Specialist290
Member Avatar
Admin-type Guy
Yeah, there's gonna be more. A lot more. I'm mostly making it up as I go along, though, so I don't really have anything specific planned yet.
Posted Image
AK-47? Check
Fedora? Check
Fur coat? Check
Sunglasses? Check
Good to go...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Bob 121
Member Avatar
Librarium Adept
Specialist290
Aug 13 2006, 12:21 PM
Yeah, there's gonna be more. A lot more. I'm mostly making it up as I go along, though, so I don't really have anything specific planned yet.

The format reminds me of that of the Warhammer 40,000 books which have a lot of history and feature numerous texts like that.
Try AE: Its awesome (I'm in Alpha server with Bluemofia)
Posted Image

Posted Image

Check out my story and I will be your servant for a whole day PLUS you could win a FREE TOASTER! (Offer void in IL, CO, and NY.)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Hlfranklin
Member Avatar
Rising out of the flames
Not bad sp. :thumbsup:
Posted Image
Anime-Planet.com - anime | manga | reviews
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Specialist290
Member Avatar
Admin-type Guy
Bob 121
Aug 13 2006, 07:34 PM
Specialist290
Aug 13 2006, 12:21 PM
Yeah, there's gonna be more. A lot more. I'm mostly making it up as I go along, though, so I don't really have anything specific planned yet.

The format reminds me of that of the Warhammer 40,000 books which have a lot of history and feature numerous texts like that.

Thanks :) I'm not too familiar w/ the books (or the games or miniatures, for that matter) so I'm not really aware of how much of a compliment that is, but I guess being compared to something like that is a pretty good thing.

I'll try to have another chapter up later today or tmw.
Posted Image
AK-47? Check
Fedora? Check
Fur coat? Check
Sunglasses? Check
Good to go...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Bob 121
Member Avatar
Librarium Adept
Specialist290
Aug 18 2006, 12:30 PM
Bob 121
Aug 13 2006, 07:34 PM
Specialist290
Aug 13 2006, 12:21 PM
Yeah, there's gonna be more. A lot more. I'm mostly making it up as I go along, though, so I don't really have anything specific planned yet.

The format reminds me of that of the Warhammer 40,000 books which have a lot of history and feature numerous texts like that.

Thanks :) I'm not too familiar w/ the books (or the games or miniatures, for that matter) so I'm not really aware of how much of a compliment that is, but I guess being compared to something like that is a pretty good thing.

I'll try to have another chapter up later today or tmw.

I figured as much. They aren't very well known as they are really a obscure Sci-Fi niche published only in the U.K. and then occasionally shipped over to the U.S. What I meant was that it was presented in a way that seemed very realistic and professional.
Try AE: Its awesome (I'm in Alpha server with Bluemofia)
Posted Image

Posted Image

Check out my story and I will be your servant for a whole day PLUS you could win a FREE TOASTER! (Offer void in IL, CO, and NY.)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Specialist290
Member Avatar
Admin-type Guy
OK, so it's a bit late...

----------

CHAPTER I
Wars do not simply pop into existence for no reason. There is generally some sort of dispute or perceived insult involved that is used as a pretext for conflict by one party or the other and which is generally regarded as the "cause" of the war by most contemporaries, as well as those who perform little more than a cursory study of such events. However, even these "immediate causes" are usually not enough to provoke war on their own--most could be easily solved were the two parties willing to sit down and have a reasonable discussion--and rely on some form of distrust, animosity, or misunderstanding of the other party that is much more deeply rooted into the national consciousness.

Prior to the Final War, the Humans and Arcanians had had a fairly long history of communication. They first made contact during their mutual period of ascendancy over their respective spheres of influence, and while the two never entered into a formal alliance, there was at least some sort of mutual respect between the two races. They came to each other's assistance whenever there was some sort of mutual benefit involved--for instance, the partitioning of the crumbling Iconian Infinite Empire and the subsequent coordinated defense of their acquisitions against the Iconians' other neighbors who felt they deserved a cut--but in general both empires remained fairly indifferent to each other and only rarely intervened with the other's policies.

Both the Humans and the Arcanians knew relatively little of each others societies. The Arcanians were notoriously secretive and xenophobic, allowing only minimal necessary trade with foreign empires and being extremely suspicious (sometimes rightly so) of "tourists." They also cared little about other societies, preferring instead to impose theirs where they could and not get involved where they couldn't. The Humans, for their part, never could fully crack the shell of Arcanian secrecy. Additionally, both empires were powers on the rise, which led to a certain sense of rivalry.

It was in this climate of ignorance that the first seeds of the Final War were sown. The Arcanians began viewing the Humans with contempt, viewing their willingness to negotiate as evidence that they preferred talking to fighting and would thus back down when presented with a show of force equal to or stronger than their own. Likewise, the Humans began regarding the Arcanians' bravado in their diplomacy and reluctance to share information as a front, indicating that the Arcanians were not as powerful as they would like others to believe. In retrospect, it is easy to see that both opinions were greatly flawed, yet the societies of the day had neither the information nor the desire to discredit them.

As long as the Humans and Arcanians had other foes to focus on, their dealings with each other remained fairly respectful, if not entirely cordial. However, once both were established as the two dominant powers of the galaxy, friction began to build up between them--friction that would ultimately be released suddenly and violently.

The "immediate cause" of the Final War was, like so many others, a minor one: a simple boundary dispute, ironically over a portion of the old Iconian domain. In one sector of space, the Dimorest Cluster, the line had been drawn rather vaguely, as that particular stretch of space had fairly little strategic or economic importance at the time. Indeed, the borders had been so set down as to leave the status of nearly three hundred inhabited systems in limbo. As neither was able to claim full authority over the region without the dispute being contested, and as no one wanted to start a war over an apparently resource-poor region of the galaxy, these systems had to effectively fend for themselves. Over the years, to prevent the region from descending into a complete state of anarchy and lawlessness, the systems had banded together to form the Dimorest Sector Authority, an "informal" federation devoted to protecting its members and maintaining intersystem trade throughout the Cluster.

The state of the Dimorest Cluster would probably have remained ambiguous for centuries to come had there not been a sudden series of discoveries of valuable theremite crystals. These crystals possessed strange properties that allowed them to be used as energy sources for a variety of machines, including the hyperdrive units used by both empires as their primary means of interstellar travel. While other sources could also energize and convert the "hypermatter" needed to activate the hyperdrive, theremite crystals were incredibly efficient at this, raising the amount of propulsion power from a single unit of hypermatter exponentially over conventional means. However, the crystals were also exceptionally rare, with only a few scattered deposits having been found galaxywide. The Dimorest Cluster had become a treasure trove almost overnight.

Once more the old claims and counterclaims flashed across the comm waves, and soon both sides were preparing to secure the Cluster--and its valuable theremite caches--by force if necessary. The Dimorest Sector Authority merely complicated things by claiming its own jurisdiction over the disputed area, though neither the Arcanians nor the Humans recognized the Authority as a legal body and thus dismissed the validity of such a claim. The Authority responded to this brushing off by declaring independence from both empires, something which had effectively already existed in all but name. The Arcanians, taking advantage of the fact that the Humans were apparently bogged down in treaty talks over the legal status of the region, decided to "put down the rebellion" and moved their forces into the Cluster to engage the Authority's militia. The United Human Empire, outraged by the move, delivered an ultimatum demanding that the Arcanian Dominion withdraw its forces from the Cluster by a certain deadline; the Arcanians, dismissing the ultimatum as "typical Human cowardice," refused. Thus the Humans moved their own forces in to drive them out. Caught in the middle of all this was the Dimorest Cluster Authority, hated by both, recognized by neither, and in general in the unenviable position of being between two galactic superpowers and holding something they both wanted.

The first confrontation between the two empires was won by the Humans, who managed to ambush a very surprised Arcanian flotilla commander and wipe out nearly three quarters of his force. The Arcanians noted that the Humans were being more stubborn than they had expected but still deemed that all they needed was a good, solid hit to bring them to favorable terms. Therefore, the Dominion ordered its fleets not only to launch a counterattack in the Dimorest Cluster, but also to advance along several other fronts and seize several outposts well within the Humans' recognized borders. In turn the Humans were surprised by such a response, not expecting a general offensive from the Arcanians. Shocked and appalled by the capture of several of their own worlds, the United Human Empire issued a formal declaration of war against the Arcanian Dominion and immediately ordered a general advance on all fronts.

The Final War had begun.
Posted Image
AK-47? Check
Fedora? Check
Fur coat? Check
Sunglasses? Check
Good to go...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Bob 121
Member Avatar
Librarium Adept
Very, very good. I really like it. Keep up the good work, I want to see how this turns out.
Try AE: Its awesome (I'm in Alpha server with Bluemofia)
Posted Image

Posted Image

Check out my story and I will be your servant for a whole day PLUS you could win a FREE TOASTER! (Offer void in IL, CO, and NY.)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Fremskritt
Member Avatar
The poster formerly known as TP
Agree, but please don't kill too many kittens in the process will ya?
Posted Image
Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Specialist290
Member Avatar
Admin-type Guy
Don't worry, the kittens will only be lost through collateral damage ;) As for the worlds they inhabit, well, that's a different story :D
Posted Image
AK-47? Check
Fedora? Check
Fur coat? Check
Sunglasses? Check
Good to go...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Specialist290
Member Avatar
Admin-type Guy
I've written part of the next chapter to this, but it's still a work in progress.

Also, I'd just like to announce that no, this story (as such) is not dead.
Posted Image
AK-47? Check
Fedora? Check
Fur coat? Check
Sunglasses? Check
Good to go...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Bob 121
Member Avatar
Librarium Adept
Three months later.....
Try AE: Its awesome (I'm in Alpha server with Bluemofia)
Posted Image

Posted Image

Check out my story and I will be your servant for a whole day PLUS you could win a FREE TOASTER! (Offer void in IL, CO, and NY.)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Specialist290
Member Avatar
Admin-type Guy
...Let's just say that I have a tendency to get sidetracked sometimes :sweet:

That, and I seem to have conveniently written myself into an impasse at the moment (as of my last efforts). I still haven't forgotten it entirely--you can expect the next chapter to come out eventually; I just can't give you any set date or timeframe within which to expect it. It'll probably pick up pace as the end of the school year gets closer, though.
Posted Image
AK-47? Check
Fedora? Check
Fur coat? Check
Sunglasses? Check
Good to go...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Bob 121
Member Avatar
Librarium Adept
I know man, just givin you a hard time. I completely understand how you feel, most of the time I don't feel like writing at all but there are those rare moments you know? Anyways, just keep up the good work.
Try AE: Its awesome (I'm in Alpha server with Bluemofia)
Posted Image

Posted Image

Check out my story and I will be your servant for a whole day PLUS you could win a FREE TOASTER! (Offer void in IL, CO, and NY.)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Written Works · Next Topic »
Add Reply