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The Warring States Era

5347-5534CE

Overview

The Middle Chaotic Period began with the Warring States Era, a time of increased interstellar activity marred by a series of conflicts across all regions of civilized Human Space.  While less than ten percent of inhabited systems had reentered interstellar society by 5500CE, these systems represented well over half the total contemporary Human population, living in Fusion and Interstellar Era societies that had membership or at least peripheral contact with the interstellar states.  Access to interstellar travel and antimatter did not lead to unbridled prosperity, however.  Wars dominated the period, ranging from revolutionary fervor to all-out inter-Kingdom warfare in the Star Kingdoms, to the dismemberment of the Reconstruction Federation and the destruction birthplace in of Mechanism in the Jihads of Ibrahim and Ishmahil, to another war between the Bengali Dominions and the renamed Federation of Orion, to two more Dragon Frontier wars. 

Pockets of civilization spread to other Major races as well, with the Turgil building a mercantile Commonwealth and the Rootjalik, !Tak and Khaddahl returning to interstellar space in a more warlike capacity.  The former Grand Federation Races and the "Old" Imperial Major Races, the Alimeen, Khzraut and Swarm, continued to develop their distinct interstellar states.  The Alimeen incorporated millions of Human refugees from the fallen Reconstruction Federation, especially from Prometheus, slowly turning the Confederation into a two-race state.

In the Central Region, Khalif Ibrahim, with his rimward border secured by the Treaty of Vulcan, focused his attention on the Reconstruction Federation and in 5354CE began the thirty-year Jihad of Ibrahim at his earliest opportunity.  Ibrahim's Jihad proceeded in stages, slowly dismembering the Federation, allowing millions of Osirans and Prometheans to flee aboard city-sized gravstar exile ships, but subjecting billions of remaining people to forced conversions and Benalfira drug treatments.  In his Jihad, Ibrahim saw fruition of his century-old dream of expansion to the coreward with no remaining secular states restraining those borders.  Ibrahim died in the final battle of his Jihad, and his son, who became Khalif Ishmahil II, was concerned more with integration and conversion than with conquest, but that did not prevent Ishmahil from launching his own Jihad against the Mechanist homeworld of Karinsky.  Ishmahil's Jihad ruined Karinsky and triggering two futile Crusades by fleets of coreward-dwelling Mechanists under the leadership of Joshua Revarri.

Some secularists escaped the Khalifate's onslaught.  The Alimeen Confederation absorbed six Promethean exile ships that journeyed for decades to reach Central Region havens.  Over a decade earlier, the Osirans exiles, fearing unbounded Ibrahimite expansion, had set out on centuries-long voyages, traveling between four and six hundred light-years coreward.  Nineteen of twenty Osiran ships safely arrived at their destinations between 5465 and 5579CE.

The Star Kingdoms underwent two bouts of political unrest and warfare during the era.  In the later decades of the the 54th century, the Republican revolts brought unrest, revolution and warfare, especially to the Lanander, Albus and Orpheus Star Kingdoms.  After a decisive victory by Lanander's Star King Otto II at the Second Battle of Orpheus in 5386CE and subsequent quietly implemented economic reforms, the Republican movement faded from the Star Kingdoms' political landscape.  The second conflict within the Star Kingdoms, the Succession Wars, began with the contested succession of Otto III to his father's Lanander throne.  Though Otto III had clearly won the election, the minority candidate, Prince Alexander Frey, had support from Tannberg's Star King Arnham and from the Irmingham industrial elite.  The years between 5489 and 5534CE saw four periods of inter-kingdom warfare and featured turnover on the thrones of all but one Star Kingdom.  Eventually victorious, Otto III consolidated his leadership over the other Star Kings and established the Star Kingdom Confederation, linking the sovereignty and elections of the Star Kingdoms for the first time.

The Bengali Dominions spent most of the Warring State Era in relative peace, slowly expanding to become the the largest state in Human Space, encompassing over two hundred fifty systems by 5534CE.  The Skim or Second Rim War with the Federation of Orion, fought over Servant Race freedoms and immigration, was the only major conflict in Riwmard Space during the period.  The disastrous conduct of the Skim War led to the resignations and suicides of the Ve'eri Twins, Marin and Lorin, facilitating the rise of Malcolm Hu-Ve'eri-Stark to Prime Minister of the Dominions.

The Spinward Region continued to be beset by constant low-level conflicts and two full-fledged wars between the Dragon States and the Mendam Codominium.  On the periphery, the Defender Worlds and the Rouge Defenders continued to fight the Dragons and occasionally each other, maintaining an abrasive armed defense against further incursions.

The Trailing Region, outside the Star Kingdoms, saw some return to interstellar civilization, with Turgil trade routes, Recontact Service mission and Bengali Expansion penetrating into the nearer Trailing sectors.

The near planar Human areas of the Coreward Region remained under Merchant Guild dominance, with some smaller states, notably Nachen, beginning a tentative push back into interstellar space.  During the later part of the period, the Osiran exile ships beginning arriving, one to a sector, over much of central coreward space, establishing themselves in habitable systems and often developing close contacts with the Merchant Guild.

During the Warring States Era, the near Northern and Southern sectors saw some interstellar contact, as the Bengali Dominions begin to expand outward from the Empire's near rimward central regions, but much of the polar regions and most worlds on the peripheries, remained without regular interstellar contact.

Political

The demise of the Reconstruction Federation was clearly the major political event of the period, though the evolution of the Federation of Orion and of the Star Kingdoms Confederation also had long-lasting significance.  Within the Khalifate and Bengali Dominions, government institutions also continued to evolve as the realms expanded to encompass more worlds.

The Reconstruction Federation and the Terran Khalifate had been at odds for centuries, and when Ibrahim's Khalifate looked for an excuse to attack its coreward neighbor, the Reconstruction Federation gladly complied.  Infighting within the Reconstruction Federation government and the numerical and disciplinary superiority of the Khalifate combined to facilitate the secular government's dismemberment.  Over a series of campaigns, the Khalifate slowly, methodically and ruthlessly dismantled its rival, pausing to allow two worlds, Gladsheim and Khronos, join the neutral League of Vulcan, and to allow two other worlds, Osiris and Prometheus, spend vast resources to allow tens of millions of their citizens to escape into exile on city-sized gravstar vessels. 

After Ibrahim's death at the Battle of Nova in 5384CE, his son, Khalif Ishmahil II, concentrated on integrating his father's gains, favoring a generally peaceful, gradual expansion, not willing to endure the costs in blood and reputation of his father's Jihad.  He believed that the Missionaries of the Order of Truth would accomplish more with words than the warriors of the Orders of Valor and Purity could accomplish with weapons.  In the end, many worlds joined the Khalifate for economic reasons that had more to do with the Order of Generosity's work than with religious conviction.  Many within the military Orders chaffed at the glacial expansion following the Jihad of Ibrahim, the more vocal joining Grandmaster Urduman Hoar's revolt in 5530CE, but Ishmahil II prevailed; his message that the righteousness of Ibrahimism would triumph over time satisfy most of his subjects and many of his external critics, though of course not the seething Mechanists.  Ishmahil also recognized the need for local autonomy to entice worlds into accepting membership in the Khalifate, and duplicating similar efforts in the Bengali Dominions, he appointed semi-hereditary, often native, Sultans to exercise executive authority on member worlds.

In the 5360s, the thirteen world Betelgeuse Union struggled under a system of government designed by Kumar for a small Kumar-dominated Union.  Complicated budget restrictions and an undemocratic legislature led to popular discontent, especially among the newer member worlds.  As the Union contemplated an expansion to include seven neighboring worlds and struggled to resolve a health care funding crisis, the political leadership realized that the current structure was inadequate for thirteen worlds and would be hopeless for twenty or more worlds.  The result of this crisis was a new constitution, agreed upon in 5366CE, which developed a democratic, federal structure, based loosely on the ancient Terran United States constitution, complete with independent, often adversarial branches of government, with limited federal government powers and with considerable self-government for individual members.  The renamed Federation of Orion, with Rohan Norgalas as its first president, established its capital in the Armpit Nebula, first on the Verne Drift and later on the Great Nebular City, and served as a growing and prosperous beacon of civilization and freedom in the far Rimward Region.

The Star Kingdoms experienced their own governmental challenges during the era.  The Republican movement, aiming to replace the narrowly elected and essentially hereditary Star Kings with a democratically elected government, had many supporters among the middle and lower classes in over half the Star Kingdoms, but they lacked the political clout and ultimately the popular support and military force necessary to overthrow the Star Kings, their Electors and their Merchant Guild-backed corporate supporters.  The Succession Wars, which followed the century of peace subsequent to the fall of the Republican movement, were less about governmental structural concerns than about personal disputes between dynastic leaders.  The wars did little to change actually structure within the individual Star Kingdoms, but the resultant eventual victory of Otto III reinforced the links between the Star Kingdoms by reforming the Electorate process to include the other seven Star Kings as half the Electorate for each Kingdom election, ensuring some degree of codependence between the dynasties.  Otto III also created and occupied the position of Great King, freely elected by the eight Star Kings in theory, but residing with the Lanander monarchy in practice.

Technological

The Warring States Era was not a time of great technological innovation within Human Space, but the period represented a further spread and utilization of early macrojump technology, contributing to increased volumes of interstellar trade, more interstellar recontact missions, civilization's expansion, and as an unfortunate side effect, greater access to large quantities of antimatter.  The availability of cheap antimatter greatly contributed to the destruction during era's two Jihads and two Dragon Frontier Wars, as attack drones rained hundred megaton sub-munitions on cities and hardened targets.

More positively, the era saw the construction of large space-based settlements and the largest gravstar vessels ever built: the exile ships of the Osirans and Prometheans.  These Alimeen-designed vessels, essentially at their core stretched spheres two kilometers across and three long, cruised through interstellar space at nearly four times the speed of light for decades or centuries, each housing between two and three million people in mazelike apartments levels, like cramped interstellar arcologies.

More conventional Drift or habitat structures, even larger than the exile ships, reached completion during the era, including large additions to the Alimeen habitat and Drift complexes and the Great Nebular City in the Federation of Orion, a six-platform structure that housed the federal government, a major port, entertainment complexes and eventually five million residents.

Cultural

Few new cultural trends emerged and during the era, but many established customs grew in strength. 

By the dawn of the Middle Chaotic Period, the Mendam Codominium had become almost universally a culture dominated, at least superficially, by the tenets of the Fzuki Way.  Elsewhere, outside the Terran Khalifate, universal cultural or religious trends were hardly evident.

The Mechanist Church suffered a severe blow with the fall and destruction of Karinsky to the Jihad of Ishmahil in 5417CE.  The Church set up a new administration on Myrland and elected Ustan Ghavanaran as Primal, but the shock of the loss of their cultural core fostered policy disagreements that threatened to become schisms.  The Primal's condemnation of Sanjez Transformation as heresy in 5434CE, not only gave birth to the Heretics as an independent philosophical movement, but brought to life disagreements between the Traditionalists, led by the Primal, and the Progressives, informally led by Jon Gades.  Joshua Revarri 's call for a crusade to retake Karinsky in 5440CE and his two subsequent unsuccessful Crusades elevated him to the status of martyr but also placed the activist Crusaders in opposition to the more cautious Traditionalists.  Though all the factions continued to support the Primal and the basic tents of Mechanism, differences in approach and philosophy came to strain the Primal's authority in future centuries.

The Technologist movement had been long dormant or at least not activist since the fall of the Empire and the spread of the Mech Plague had lessened the general faith in technological progress.  Technologism finally began a renaissance after Kyrin Lambda established the Institute for Technologist Studies on Albus in 5449CE.  While condemning the Heretics, Lambda became a charismatic proponent for gradualist technological improvement of all sentient races, incorporating genetic reengineering and cybernetic enhancements to produce more perfect sentients.  This middle course and emphasis on self-improvement caught hold on the more prosperous worlds of the Star Kingdoms and Federation of Orion, where religious freedoms were well tolerated, and moderate, or Lambda, Technologism also spread widely across the Merchant Guild-dominated Coreward regions.

The Bengali Dominions continued to maintain Altaran Golden Status as the state religion, though piety was mostly superficially and politically motivated.  Within the growing Dominions, many Sapiens, by far the most common genotype, had become increasingly uncomfortable with the moral implications of the Nobilis ownership of Servant Races, slaves who now numbered in the tens of billions.  An Abolitionist movement gained strength on many worlds, and eventually gained the private sympathy of Emperor Talon.  In response to Abolitionist pressures, the Emperor opened two old failed colony worlds for Goblin resettlement and one for Casap resettlement, actions which satisfied few and ultimately led the Dominions into conflict with the Federation of Orion in the Skim War.  The "Goblin Question" as it became known, did not reach resolution during the era, but its effect on the internal politics of the Dominions was growing, and the Emperor began to search for better solutions to a seemingly intractable structural social problem.

Chronology Table

5347 The growing Republican movement, widespread through the Star Kingdoms of Orpheus, Lanander and Albus, begins calls for constitutional reforms, including the direct election of Star Kings and greater member world autonomy.
5348 Republican agitators riot on Lanander and Albus, demanding a representative monarchy and land reforms.  After the Albian capitol falls to the Republicans, Star Queen Rain calls upon Queen Rebekah of Markham to help retake her world; Markham forces occupy Albus and slaughter the Republicans.  King Otto II flees Lanander as the Republicans seize his palace, eventually arriving at the Markham court.
5349 A combined Markham-Albus expedition attacks the Republican provisional government on Lanander and restores Star King Otto II to the throne.  All eight Star Kingdoms ban the restive Republican movement, arresting millions of prominent supporters.  The Bengali Dominions annexes Memphis in Sector 19, beginning a tentative push into the near Northern region.
5350 The Sector 1 fusion era world of Agade voluntarily joins the Khalifate after a special missionary visit by the Khalif's son, Ishmahil.
5351 Duchess Margrette Stark-Theissum resigns as Prime Minister of the Bengal Dominions after a corruption scandal implicates her husband, Lord Paldrin Ve'eri; Emperor Talon names Lord Marin Hu-Ve'eri-Stark as his new Prime Minister.
5352 Gordoman Sanjez opens his clinic on Amada, performing cybernetic personality transformations on clients.
5353 The Betelgeuse Union enlargement conference on Kumar between the thirteen current member worlds and seven prospective members fails after a breakdown in structural discussions.  Prime Minister Lord Marin Hu-Ve'eri-Stark names his son Malcolm as Bengali ambassador to Vulcan.
5354 A clash between Order of Truth missionaries and Reconstruction Federation military advisors on the world of Han leads to a complete collapse of diplomatic relations between the Khalifate and the Reconstruction Federation; on Nova, the rotating Reconstruction presidency calls for war against the Khalifate, though the resolution stalls in debate.  On Terra, Khalif Ibrahim declares a jihad against the Reconstruction Federation, launching the Jihad of Ibrahim.
5355 The Order of Valor destroys the massed Reconstruction Federation fleet at the First Battle of Osiris and then bombards the world before withdrawing under fire from reinforcements.  At the Battle of Vega the Khalifate and Federation fleets fight to a stalemate in an engagement that destroys Khalifate facilities in the system.  Khalifate survivors withdraw after loosing the First Battle of Thor.  Federation ships win the Battle of Apollo, but retreat after mining the system.
5356 Despite Reconstruction Federation and local Republican-inspired protests, the Star Kingdoms remain neutral in the face of the Jihad of Ibrahim, supplying both sides with war material.  The Battle of Odin, won by the Khalifate, prevents the transfer of the Federation government to that world and the rotating presidency remains based at Nova under wartime emergency provisions.  The Reconstruction Federation wins the Battle of Asgard and conquers the world.  The Betelgeuse member worlds of Norada and Tudor lead a political revolt of eight members seeking to end the dominance of Kumar in Union affairs; a compromise preserves the Union, but ends hopes for immediate enlargement.  Ishmahil Hassani marries Farrah Ruis-Blaum, granddaughter of Martian philosopher-cleric Dagan Ruis.
5357 With Ibrahim at the head of his fleet, the Khalifate wins the Second Battle of Thor and bombards the world, forcing a surrender.  Khalifate Order of Valor troops land on Odin, starting a protracted ground conflict with high civilian causalities.  The Battle of Prometheus ends in the near destruction of both fleets and prompts discussions of an armistice between the Khalifate and the Reconstruction Federation.  At the Second Battle of Osiris, Khalifate ships break the Federation line and bombard the world.
5358 The Jihad of Ibrahim pauses as the Khalifate and Reconstruction Federation agree to a Vulcan-sponsored cease-fire that sees a withdrawal of occupation forces from Thor and Asgard.  The world of Bolivar voluntarily joins the Khalifate after years of missionary activity.  The future Khalif Mohammed III is born on Terra to Ishmahil and Farah.
5359 Responding to continued commerce raiding, the Reconstruction Federation attacks the Order of Valor base on Delphi, restarting the Jihad.  Ibrahim leads his fleet to victory at the Third Battle of Thor and orders surface attacks and landings, reconquering the world.  Complaints from Nachen's neighboring worlds force the Merchant Guild to undertake an expedition against Harold Destructor; Harold dies in a battle over Nachen that scatters his pirate fleet and the Guild imposes a provisional government on the world.
5360 The Khalifate Second Fleet wins the Third Battle of Osiris and besieges the world.  Khronos withdraws from the Reconstruction Federation and declares itself a neutral world, petitioning for entry into the League of Vulcan.  The Fourth Battle of Thor ends with the failure of the Reconstruction Fereration to retake the world and renewed talks on Vulcan.  After a general election, Bander Thulsen becomes Lord President of Nachen under the world's new constitution.
5361 The Khalifate Orders of Valor and Purity begin landings on Osiris.  Reconstruction Federation raiders destroy industrial and military facilities at Delphi and Atlantis, but fail to disrupt Khalifate operations on Osiris or Thor.  A Khalifate raid at the Battle of Hercules destroys the mustering Reconstruction Federation Second Fleet.  The League of Vulcan formally incorporates Khronos and negotiates a new cease-fire that again pauses the Jihad.
5362 Alimeen and Vulcan observers arrive at Osiris to negotiate a surrender of the world to the Khalifate, winning agreement for an eight-year transition plan wherein millions of Osirians will accept exile in gravstar cityships rather than incorporate into the Khalifate.  Nova becomes the permanent headquarters of the Reconstruction Federation, with Novan leader Osmon Radik confirmed as President.
5363 Lord Paldrin Ve'eri, legal appeals exhausted, accepts exile and house arrest at his estates on Balder to avoid the embarrassment of a corruption trial.
5364 A band of Goblins seizes the Bengali liner Uttra Benzin and flees to Karnak, receiving political asylum from the Betelgeuse Union despite protests from the Dominions.  The world of Hsia joins the Bengali Dominions after negotiations led by Malcolm Hu-Ve'eri-Stark.
5365 The Rootjalik military develops its first macrojump vessels, 20m escort craft based on the salvaged Recontact Service design.
5366 After a budget crisis and continuing political stalemate, the Betelgeuse Union holds a constitutional convention on the Verne Drift; delegate Rohan Norgalas of Kumar hammers together a new federal constitution for the renamed Federation of Orion, which also establishes the Verne Drift as the new federal capital.
5367 The first Osiran gravstar exile ship, the Eye of Ra, crammed with over two million inhabitants, leaves the system, heading coreward, ultimately reaching nearly four times the speed of light.
5368 Six additional Osiran exile ships leave the system carrying another twelve million residents.  The Eternal Rohan Norgalas becomes the first President of the Federation of Orion as seven new worlds formally join the Federation.
5369 The last thirteen Osiran gravstar exile ships leave the system, each packed with nearly three million refugees.  The world of Zulu joins the Bengali Dominions after appointing the Nobilis Jorgo Banu as King of the fractious planetary concord.
5370 Osiris formally enters the Khalifate, officially surrendering to the Khalif's son and heir, Ishmahil.
5371 Rootjalik starship captain Hurotunishka Bra Rushzbo declares himself Rootjalik Emperor after a coup on his homeworld and orders the construction of an interstellar navy to reintegrate the Rootjalik worlds.
5372 The Reconstruction Federation government collapses into chaos after the assassination of President Osmon Radik by a Herculean nationalist; Khalif Ibrahim uses the confusion and undefined acts of piracy as an excuse to resume his Jihad.  In the Battle of Tripoli, the Khalifate destroys the defending Reconstruction Federation fleet and captures the world.
5373 The worlds of Aurora and Gardenia surrender to the Khalifate after Order of Valor fleets destroy local defense squadrons and threaten bombardment; Order of Purity special forces armed with Benalfira occupy the two worlds.  The Siege of Odin begins.  The Khalif's younger son, Abdullah, dies in an ambush of his convoy off Delphi.
5374 Reconstruction Federation ships occupy the Vega system and establish military bases in the outer belt.  The Reconstruction Federation wins the Battle of Odysseus, but fails to occupy the world, instead bombarding civilian centers before withdrawing.  Khalif Ibrahim leads his fleet in the conquest and occupation of Helicon, destroying the world's six largest cities before the surviving government begs for mercy.  A battered Odin finally surrenders to the Khalifate blockade force.
5375 After the Heimdall system falls to a bloody Order of Valor offensive, Vulcan and Alimeen negotiators push through another cease-fire, recognizing Khalifate gains in return for peace.  The remaining five worlds of the Reconstruction Federation again appeal to the Star Kingdoms and even to the Bengali Dominions for assistance, but receive nothing but vague declarations of support for the Federation's continuing independence.
5376 The Nachen government rebuilds a salvaged pirate vessel, uncovering the secrets of macrojump and vacuum distiller technology; the battered 30m Ornamagn, renamed Nachen Phoenix, becomes the nucleus of the Nachen Interstellar Navy.  Gladsheim withdraws from the Reconstruction Federation, joining the League of Vulcan and transferring its military fleet to the free Human habitat at Night Gust.  The Reconstruction Federation habitats in Alimeen space withdraw from the Reconstruction Federation and proclaim their neutrality under Alimeen protection.
5377 Teslan authorities negotiate a limited contact agreement with the Shiners, allowing the race to reestablish a fusion era civilization after centuries of isolation.
5378 Cyberneticist David Daniel Dumas founds D3 Cybernetics on the Verne Drift, commercializing his patents in universal limb and sensory enhancement.  Debo Rostlbarian wins the presidency of the four world rump Reconstruction Federation, calling for the liberation of conquered worlds and a defensive Pact with the Alimeen.
5379 Khalif Ibrahim resumes his Jihad, attacking Heaven and Hercules; the Alimeen refuse to enter an alliance with the Reformation Federation but incorporate the Human habitats into the Alimeen Confederation with full citizenship privileges.  Hercules fights off an Order of Valor attack fleet, but Heaven surrenders under the threat of antimatter bombardment.  Reconstruction Federation commerce raiders strike across the coreward Central Region, attacking Khalifate and neutral shipping, including "traitorous" vessels from Khronos.
5380 Vulcan refuses to host renewed cease-fire talks, calling the Reconstruction Federation a "lost cause".  The Khalifate besieges Prometheus.  President Rohan Norgalas retires as President of the Federation of Orion after two terms.
5381 Prometheus surrenders to the Khalifate besiegers and allows the Order of Purity to occupy the world in return for the building and launching of six gravstar exile ships under Alimeen supervision.
5382 The worlds of Hercules and Nova mine their home systems and fight off strong Khalifate attack forces, vowing to fight to the death.
5383 Khalif Ibrahim leads his fleet in the Siege of Hercules, wherein the defenders destroy three ships for every vessel lost, but eventually succumb; the world surrenders after a punishing nuclear attack that kills over one hundred million people.  Republican partisans seize power on Orpheus, slaughtering Star King Janar and his family; Elector Aris Harrins names himself head of the Orphean government as First Citizen and orders the expulsion of Merchant Guild traders.  A Republican terror campaign against Orphean royalists exterminates many leading Electors as the Republican revolution spreads to nineteen Orphean systems.  Volunteers from Human Alimeen worlds and from as far away as the Federation of Orion and the Star Kingdoms join in the defense of Nova against the Khalifate.
5384 Khalif Ibrahim dies in the the bloody Battle of Nova, the Khalifate loosing over fifty ships before overcoming opposition and bombarding the world into collapse, killing over a billion people.  Ibrahim's son Ishmahil becomes Khalif by acclimation of the Order of Ibrahim and orders an end to the Jihad.  Star King Otto II of Lanander leads a combined expeditionary force from seven kingdoms to retake Orpheus from the Republicans.  The Republican Rebel Fleet wins the First Battle of Orpheus, but abandons all outlying worlds to defend their capital.
5385 Khalif Ishmahil II orders the annexation of the shattered worlds of Hercules and Nova into the Khalifate but discourages further expansion of the now fifty system Khalifate, concentrating on the integration of the former Reconstruction Federation worlds.  Star King Otto II sweeps through rebellious Orphean worlds in a rapid pacification campaign and then besieges Orpheus itself.
5386 Six Promethean gravstar exile ships with a combined population of over twenty-five million refugees leave Prometheus, most heading for Alimeen systems.  Facing starvation on Orpheus, the Republicans concentrate their remaining ships to break the blockade, but fall victim to Otto's superior numbers at the Second Battle of Orpheus.  Landing with his elite Red Guard, Otto II burns Aris Harrins alive at the foot of the Orphean Beanstalk.  With consent from the other Star Kingdoms, Otto II installs his cousin, Rundal Bellefortin as Star King of Orpheus and appoints twelve new Electors from among the captains of his combined fleet.
5387 The Seventh Dragon Frontier War begins in response to an over-enthusiastic Dragon reaction to Rouge Defender raids against several occupied worlds; the Mendam Codominium declares war on the Dragon nations of Hrbra and Vrashma to avenge raids on four Mendam worlds.
5388 Dragons begin widespread commerce raiding across the Mendam Codominium, but avoid major engagements; raiders detonate antimatter explosions over urban areas on Hilmaria and Tunkanga, killing tens of millions of Humans and Khruzi.  The Federation of Orion Vanguard recontacts the balkanized Turgil world of Yulmanar in Sector, inadvertently touching off a nuclear war.  Nachen Lord President Thulsen orders his eight ship Interstellar Navy to begin a pacification and colonization campaign to alleviate continued piracy in the Antares region.
5389 Allied with the Merchant Guild and Rouge Defender bands, the Mendam Codominium launches a major offensive against hostile Dragon States, winning the Battle of Outer Halbarin against the Vrashma Pride, permanently destroying the nation.  Mendam raiders led by Admiral Basmathsma Burlamauthzras devastate the Hrbra Dragon stronghold at the Battle of Ongatoran and kill millions in the subsequent bombardment.
5390 Turgil Associate State vessels accompany a Federation of Orion relief mission to Yulmanar and help the world recover from its nuclear conflict.  The Seventh Dragon Frontier War ends after the Sack of Zhrurha destroys the Hrbra Nation.  Mendam troops liberate the Human world of Ogden in Sector 347.
5391 Khruzi settlers reclaim the world of Hazambur in Sector 771 after the evacuation of surviving Dragon troops and colonists.
5392 Khalif Ishmahil II concedes some authority to prominent local officials and signs the Articles of Governance, replacing Khalif-appointed planetary governors with Khalif-confirmed, semi-hereditary planetary Sultanates.
5393 Bengali diplomats led by Lord Malcolm Hu-Ve'eri-Stark negotiate associate Member Status for the Natani homeworld of Umbran, pledging to help the Natani recontact their five colony worlds.
5394 Rouge Defenders defeat a Dragon invasion fleet at the Battle of Ustral in Sector 775, saving the world from Dragon occupation.
5395 Without Dominions permission, Goblin rights activists plant colonies of freed Goblins on the long-abandoned old Confederation colony worlds of Salvation and Bliss in Sector 4.
5396 After threatening to eliminate the settlements, Bengali Emperor Talon orders a blockade of Salvation and Bliss, allowing the Goblin settlers no access to advanced technologies and limiting further transplantations to monitored transport runs.  The Promethean exile ship Tomorrow's Seed reaches Storm Seed and enters an orbit parallel to the system's habitat.  The Khalifate incorporates Pax, the first world absorbed since the conquest of the Reformation Federation.
5397 The Rootjalik Empire reclaims N'Cheeta, renewing their subjugation of the Serlians with the arrival of an orbital fleet and occupation troops; Emperor Hurotunishka Bra Rushzbo sets foot on N'Cheeta, proclaiming Rootjalik racial superiority.  The Bengali Dominions incorporates Excalibur.
5398 Zhantlas Union forces defeat an Octopod raider squadron at Jurva Bur and liberate the primitive local race from Octopod domination.
5399 Technicians on the !Tak homeworld of A!Ta'pak redevelop a functional macrojump engine, beginning the resurgence of the !Tak as an interstellar race.
5400 After losing a special election called after allegations of corruption, Nachen Lord President Thulsen suspends the constitution and declares martial law. The majority of the Navy supports this action, but six dissenting captains take their vessels and turn pirate, preying on Nachen and Guild traffic alike.
5401 Despite protests from the Nobility, Bengali Emperor Talon allows the settlement of free Casaps on the long-abandoned Sector 8 colony world of Biafra, renamed Fenris by the settling Casaps.
5402 A Dragon raider fleet attacks and destroys the Rouge Defender base at Black Ice Citadel, scattering the Defenders in Sector 775.  The Khalifate peacefully annexes the Sector 5 world of Min.
5403 Goblins on Bliss seize the colony transport Ottoman Sky and strike out for Vulcan to start a Goblin rebel movement, the Green Fist; Emperor Talon suspends all Goblin resettlement transports.  The Promethean exile ship Embers of Light reaches Alimeen and settles near the Alimeen Drift.
5404 The Promethean exile ships Hope Eternal and White Light reach the Alimeen systems of Eternal Fog and White Wind, respectively; the White Light takes up orbit around the mostly terraformed world of Nova Blanca.
5405 Paldrin Ve'eri and his son, Baron Lucas Ve'eri die in a speeder crash on Balder; Paldrin's wife, Margrette, Duchess of Hera, abdicates and names her grandson, Prime Minister Marin Ve'eri as Duke of Hera and his twin, Defensive Minister Lorin Ve'eri as Baron of Thessium; Margrette retires to the estates of her cousins on Glorious.
5406 Under Bengali pressure, the League of Vulcan bans the Green Fist, expelling its membership, many of whom take refuge in the embassies of the Federation of Orion and Alimeen Confederation and find their way offworld  to systems within those two states.  The Bengali Dominions resumes limited armed transport of freed Goblins to Bliss and Salvation and applies similar precautions to the continuing Casap settlement of Fenris.
5407 The Rootjalik establish a colony on the faltering Human world of Tanzmane in Sector 842, driving the original colonists into reservations and marking the beginning of the expansion of the first Rootjalik Empire into unconquered territory.
5408 The Bengali Dominions annexes Artemis after the long balkanized industrial era world, exhausted from centuries of intermittent warfare, agrees to form a world government under King Horgas Jagenzia-Butro, a distant descendant of King Antonio dos Santos-Heralos, the last King of Artemis.
5409 The Promethean exile ship Morning Breezes reaches the Alimeen system of Salt Breeze.
5410 Shadia Mustafa, mother of Khalif Mohammed I and widow of Director Roland Hassani, dies on Kalmar.  The Sector 6 world of Leda joins the Khalifate after a bloody Ibrahimite revolutionary cadre seizes power on the industrial era world.
5411 !Tak starships seize the Guild trader Watley Broom at Marnikan Lun, gaining access to more advanced macrojump and vacuum distiller technology.
5412 Turgil delegates from the Star Kingdom-associated Chalandra Council and the Bengali Associated State worlds form the Turgil Commonwealth on their homeworld, also inviting Yulmanar to join; the trade oriented Commonwealth includes all nineteen recontacted Turgil worlds.  The last Promethean exile ship New Dawn, reaches the Alimeen system of Night Gust.
5413 Despite a Bengali protest, the Federation of Orion registers the Green Fist as a legitimate political party promoting the aspirations of Goblin freedom.
5414 The future Khalif Mohammed III marries Fatima Cho, daughter of the prominent Order of Valor Admiral, Faruk Cho.
5415 The Federation of Orion passes calendar reform legislation, adopting the Orion Calendar, with annually numbered days and a standard six-day week.
5416 The assassination of the Sultan of Prometheus triggers Ishmahil's Jihad against an alleged Mechanist insurgency.  Order of Purity troops seize the assets of prominent secular industrialists on Mars, Atlantis, Kalmar and Aphrodite.  Order of Valor starships besiege Karinsky and fight off a Mechanist counter-attack.
5417 The Battle of Karnisky begins with massive bombardments and a troop landing, followed by the destruction of the Pavel Karinsky Cathedral and the murder of Primal Almon Derga.  A ruthless pacification of Karinsky begins.
5418 Guild warships defend Turban Station against a B'dr'rak pirate attack, beginning a period of armed diplomacy that eventually leads to renewed peaceful relations between the Guild and the B'dr'rak government.
5419 Mechanist delegates meeting on Myrland proclaim Ustan Ghavanaran as Primal of the Mechanist Church and vow revenge against the Khalifate for the sack of Karinsky and the death or destruction of billions of Mechanist adherents and souls.
5420 The Federation of Orion begins full official use of the Orion Calendar.  The Purge of Karinsky ends with the bombardment of remaining Mechanist structures and the sterilization of much of the population; the world begins a rapid slide into ecological collapse.  Future Khalif Fahd Hassani is born on Terra.
5421 Speaking at the funeral of his grandfather-in-law, Dagan Ruis, Khalif Ishmahil II, while denouncing Mechanist "abomination", calls for the respect of life and a peaceful spread of "righteous" Ibrahimism, countering expansionist critics by proclaiming that he will not unnecessarily shed blood to rush the inevitable spread of Ibrahimism.
5422 Increased tariffs in the Kith'turi-Salvaatiki Union of Worlds prompts the Merchant Guild to discontinue trading expeditions to the nation's systems.
5423 Dragon raiders bomb the Khruzi settlement on Hazambur, killing tens of thousands and triggering the Eighth Dragon Frontier War.  Admiral Khushalar Brushmara's Task Force One, ordered to locate and eliminate the raider bases, attacks four Dragon worlds with antimatter before being ambushed and destroyed by a growing coalition of Dragon nations at the Battle of Tshra Ghd'r.  Dragon forces begin attacking Mendam Codominium worlds in force and strike unsuccessfully at Far Orlando.  The Sector 19 world of Beowulf becomes the two hundredth member of the Bengali Dominions.
5424 The Codominium First Fleet destroys the forces of the Dragon Nations of Kzvar and Tarkhat at the Battle of Shanadar but suffers a mauling from the forces of Dragon Kvarzha Pride leader T'ktarvashma during pursuit at the Battle of Catchtrack Periphery.  The Merchant Guild provides material support to the Codominium and begins aggressive anti-raider patrols along trade routes.  Khalid Hassani, second son of Mohammed and Fatima, is born on Terra.
5425 T'ktarvashma leads a combined Dragon Fleet to victory at the Battle of Razi, bombarding the Human-recaptured world and killing nearly the entire population of five million.  The Combined Dragon Fleet meets the combined First and Second Mendam Fleets at the Battle of Havren, withdrawing with heavy casualties after the indecisive contest.
5426 The Dragon combined fleet withdraws from Razi under increasing Mendam pressure but fends of a major attack by the First and Third Mendam Fleets at the Battle of Yelsman's Rock.  Zhantlas withdraws its mediation team from Ruszhane to protest Dragon commerce raiding, but refuses Mendam's urging to join the war.
5427 The Mendam Codominium Second Fleet bombards the Dragon world of Jz'haishkva, killing millions of Dragons and Human slaves but abandons a landing action after T'ktarvashma brings his fleet into the system.  Rouge Defenders join the Mendam Fourth Fleet in defeating a Dragon flanking force at the Battle of Tangle Disk.
5428 After T'ktarvashma looses a third of his ships in a failed attack on Far Orlando, negotiations resume on Ruszhane under reluctant Zhantlian auspices.  Dragon raiders attack and destroy a large Guild convoy at Bendelhausen.  The Mendam Second Fleet attacks the Kvarzha Pride homeworld of Tashkzako, killing over three million Dragons then withdrawing before T'ktarvashma's fleet.  The Sector 2 atomic era world of Elysium joins the Khalifate, but most natives continue to practice a more permissive form of Ishmahili Ibrahimism.
5429 The Eighth Frontier War ends in a negotiated settlement agreed to on Ruszhane that recognizes pre-war borders, denounces raiding by all parties, but settles little.
5430 The Mendam Codominium begins the resettlement of Hazambur and Razi under heavy military protection; forward patrols protect all Codominium border worlds and the Codominium Navy begins a large fleet expansion to support increased patrolling duties.
5431 The first documented !Tak pirate raid strikes the Guild Station at Kilderain in Sector 395.  The Turgil Commonwealth signs a cooperative agreement with the Federation of Orion, allowing Turgil teams to join the Vanguard.
5432 Malcolm Hu-Ve'eri-Stark heads the Bengali delegation that oversees the entry of Reich into the Dominions, negotiating a surrender of power by the repressive ruling party in an often criticized amnesty agreement.
5433 The League of Vulcan adopts the Orion Calendar, effectively adopting it for Human residents of the Alimeen Confederation as well.
5434 After reports of Mechanist conversions to cybernetic personality constructs at Gordoman Sanjez's Amada clinic, Primal Ustan Ghavanaran declares the offenders heretics, banning the procedure and excommunicating all involved with the process; transformations continue at the Amada clinic and other locations, including Faztulu Drift and across the Star Kingdoms; the term Heretic comes to signify the recipients of the Sanjez Transformation.
5435 The Zhantlas Union authorizes the T'zet settlement of Unraboorma in Sector 757, with the colonists establishing a bioresearch enterprise and swearing fealty to the Zhantlas government.  Catalonia joins the Khalifate after the ruling oligarchy converts to Ibrahimism in return for support against a pro-democracy insurgency.
5436 An Orion and Turgil Vanguard mission recontacts the Turgil colony of Yusenlora in Sector 746, completing the recontact and consolidation of the twenty surviving Turgil colonies into the Commonwealth.
5437 The League of Righteous Nations triumphs in Ishtar's Great Wars, but the victors quickly turn on each other in a fratricidal war that features heavy use of Goblin and Casap mercenaries by all parties.
5438 The Sector 3 world of Mandela joins the Bengali Dominions in response to public pressure to accept a technical assistance program and stabilize the world's faltering ecosystem.
5439 The Recontact Service launches a three ship expedition to recontact Hortense; beset by technical problems and ultimately abandoning one vessel, the failed expedition returns to Markham after eight months.
5440 The Turgil Commonwealth begins annual merchant convoys from Chalandra in the Orpheus Star Kingdom to the Federation of Orion capital at Verne Drift.
5441 Star King Rohan of Tannberg dies just weeks before his bicentennial jubilee; his successor, Star King Arnham, adopts a pro-Irmingham stance, making little secret of his personal dislike of Lanander Star King Otto II.
5442 The Order of Valor intervenes on Ishtar to end continued fighting between the Ibrahimite-led nations, installing the local cleric Ashtan Benz as Sultan and beginning the mass deportation of Goblins and Casaps to the world's inhospitable Northlands. The Merchant Guild begins regular anti-piracy patrols across Sector 395 in response to !Tak raids.
5443 The Bengali Dominions incorporates Tywyn in Sector 391, a forced annexation at the request of a minority Nobilis and Eternal group that draws diplomatic criticism from the Federation of Orion.
5444 T'ktarvashma's son T'ktarsz'aktl becomes leader of the Dragon Kvarzha Pride after his father's death in a hunting accident.  T'ktarsz'aktl leads his fleets in an unprovoked attack on Tigarvati, calling it revenge for the Codominium's attack on Tashkzako; the attack kills two million and precipitates the Ninth Dragon Frontier War.  The Mendam First Fleet retaliates with a devastating strike on Tashkzako that destroys most of the world's infrastructure.  Most Dragon raiding attacks meet with failure or destruction against aggressive Mendam patrolling.
5445 T'ktarsz'aktl rallies a coalition of four Dragon Nations against the Codominium and launches massed attacks against Kumbashgalor and Gashbanglman in Sector 771, destroying the patrol fleets and bombing both Khruzi worlds, causing millions of causalities.  The Second and Third Mendam Fleets meet T'ktarsz'aktl's fleet at the Battle of Gashmagulmoon, killing T'ktarsz'aktl and scattering his fleet.
5446 The short but bloody Ninth Dragon Frontier War ends when the Dragon nation of Szarkhz surrenders to the Mendam First Fleet and the rest of the coalition crumbles; a treaty signed at Ruszhane discourages the bombings of civilian targets.
5447 Quetzacoatl joins the Bengali Dominions after a lengthy negotiation on religious freedoms that allows Aztec practices to continue on the world.
5448 The Dragon Pride Orzat seizes control of the Human world of Keagan in Sector 743, enslaving the industrial era population of over eighty million.
5449 The Technologist philosopher Kyrin Lambda establishes the Institute for Technologist Studies on Albus; the Institute becomes the leading center of the Technologist renaissance.
5450 Mechanist Ninth Incarnate Joshua Revarri calls for a crusade against the Ibrahimite occupation of Karinsky, gathering a group of followers that become the core of the Crusader Mechanist sect.
5451 Technologist Kyrin Lambda makes her first pronouncement on Heretic transformation, calling it an aberration on the path to creating a bio-synthetic being, instead promoting conventional cyborgization and biomorphisis as the path to a technological being.
5452 A twelve ship Crusader fleet under Joshua Revarri's command leaves Myrland bound for Karinsky.
5453 The Sector 19 world of New Florida enters the Bengali Dominions after a division of Guardian "volunteers" helps King Rufus II of Smyrna conquer opposing nations on the populous late industrial world.
5454 The Crusader fleet reaches the world of Asarte in Sector 38; suffering mechanical failures and dissention, Revarri presses ahead with just five vessels.
5455 The First Mechanist Crusade ends with the destruction of the fleet and the death of Joshua Revarri at the hands of the Order of Purity occupation fleet at Karinsky.  El Dorado joins the Bengali Dominions.
5456 A four-ship Recontact Service expedition commanded by Captain Henna Rorsham departs from Markham in another attempt to reach Hortense.
5457 Captain Rorsham's expedition reaches Hortense and finds a stable fusion era culture; leaving one vessel and crew behind for further contact and exploration, Rorsham leads three vessels back to Markham.
5458 A Guild anti-piracy patrol discovers the Khabaderan settlement at Turmaburan, escaping after a skirmish with local defenders.
5459 Captain Henna Rorsham commands five ships on a second expedition to Hortense, delivering technological assistance and four diplomatic aides.
5460 After definitive news of his death reaches Myrland, Joshua Revarri revives into his Tenth Incarnation from his Asarte Backup and begins plans for a second Crusade.  Rorsham's follow-up expedition reaches Hortense, retrieving the first expedition contact teams and departing, promising another expedition within twenty years.
5461 The Grand Federation's ambivalent response to news of the Khabaderan presence on Turmaburan effectively legitimizes the settlement, but tensions and occasional skirmishes between the Merchant Guild and the Khabaderans continue.
5462 Khalif Ishmahil II authorizes the Order of Truth to actively encourage Ibrahimized worlds to join the Khalifate.
5463 The Bengali Dominions aggressively intervenes to preempt nuclear conflict on the Sector 4 world of  Lodur and imposes an imported Nobilis ruling council on the forcefully incorporated world.
5464 The ruling Sapien oligarchy of the atomic era Sector 180 world of Dorgun petitions to join the Bengali Dominions, trading political control for the luxury of interstellar era technologies and continued economic control of the world's industries.
5465 The Osiran exile ship Eagle's Aeire reaches Kadesh in sector 341, beginning trade relations with the mostly Hammeidan Ibrahimite inhabitants and establishing itself in an orbit at the world's stellar L2 point.
5466 The Sector 4 world of Saxnot joins the Bengali Dominions under the auspices of a Bengali-imposed ruling council.
5467 Sapiens on the Bengali world of Murukan revolt against the Nobilis government, beginning a Purge of Death against both Nobilis and Futaris; Bengali Marines land a full Guardian Division on the world to supplement loyalist troops in putting down the revolt.  The world of Penance joins the Khalifate, the residents accepting a wholesale conversion to Ibrahimism at the direction of their ruling clergy.
5468 Goblins citizens of the Federation of Orion settle a Class E world they name Thangorodrim in Sector 790.  Bengali troops from Numenor arrive on Murukan to supplement ground forces and suppress the rebellion, beginning a period of martial law.
5469 With the approval of Primal Ustan Ghavanaran but over the objections of Jon Gades, Joshua Revarri leads a fleet of twenty-three vessels from Myrland on the Second Crusade.  The Bengali Dominions annexes Turki in Sector 44, appointing Count Alos Turki, a grandson of the King of Caldera, as ruler of the world.
5470 The Order of Purity evacuates the last of its ground troops from Karinsky, now effectively a failed world collapsing into a devastating ice age; the Khalifate maintains an orbital quarantine and extensive system-wide automate defenses to discourage visitors to the dying planet.  Landrin Byurka becomes the eleventh president of the Federation of Orion.
5471 The Second Crusade reaches Asarte, resupplying for the push to Karinsky.
5472 The Second Crusade arrives at Karinsky, defeating the defensive quarantine squadron and establishing landing zones and defenses on the planet.  The industrial-era Sector 4 world of Kannon accepts a Nobilis governor and Dominions membership.  Goblin raiders based at Thangorodrim attack and destroy biobreeding processing centers in the Caldera system; a Bengali counterstrike on Thangorodrim clashes with an Orion naval squadron commanded by Captain Venya Wei and retreats under heavy causalities.  The Bengali Dominions declares war on the Federation of Orion, starting the Second Rim or Skim War.  Unprepared Bengali forces retreat at the Battle of Benzig, and the defenseless world surrenders to the Federation.
5473 A second Bengali raid on Thangorodrim falters against the defense of Captain Wei.  Federation and Bengali fleets clash at the Battle of Etna in the outer Caldera system, a pyrrhic victory for the Bengali defenders.  The Federation of Orion Navy evacuates Benzig, mining the system to slow pursuit.  The Khalifate Order of Valor First Fleet arrives at Karinsky, defeats the Crusader fleet and bombards the world, destroying the Crusader outposts and again killing Joshua Revarri; three Crusader ships escape back to Asarte, and two of those begin the long journey back toward Myrland.
5474 The Bengali First Fleet strikes at Verne Drift, causing considerable damage to the Drift, though President Landrin Byurka refuses to evacuate, earning him the moniker "Standfast".  A counterattack by most of the Orion Fleet, at the Battle of No Retreat, crushes the Bengali Fleet.  A Bengali raid on Kumar achieves few objectives and suffers heavy losses.
5475 The Bengali Navy launches the "Four-Pronged Assault", with fleets striking Kumar, Luminous, Norada and Karnak, but fails to gain a permanent foothold in any system; Captain Venya Wei distinguishes herself at the Battle of Karnak, earning acclaim and promotion.  Crusader Captain Jelig Bathustar seizes power on Asarte, proclaiming the world a free "republic" under his leadership.  On Myrland, the Eleventh Incarnation of Joshua Revarri fails to take hold and the Primal upholds Revarri as a martyr.
5476 After a failed attack on Sutherland and a widely condemned long range bombardment of Thangorodrim, the Bengali Dominions sends Lord Malcolm Hu-Ve'eri-Stark to head an armistice negotiation team at White Wind Drift.  The Skim War ends with no exchange of territory, but a promise of cooperation against all forms of terrorism, piracy and subversion; the Federation of Orion also gains concessions governing the assisted immigration of freed Goblins and other Servant Races into the Federation.  Landrin Byurka wins overwhelming reelection as President of the Federation of Orion.
5477 Accepting responsibility for the failed war policy, Baron Lorin Ve'eri steps down as Bengali Minister of Defense and commits suicide in his quarters on Bengal; Malcolm Hu-Ve'eri-Stark refuses the title Baron of Theissum, passing it to his son, Aaron.
5478 Bengali Prime Minister Marin Ve'eri drinks Natani Tea, destroying his brain and poisoning his body in an apparent suicide attempt.  The Emperor allows Marin to die and names Malcolm Hu-Ve'eri-Stark as his Prime Minister and as the Duke of Hera.
5479 The Recontact Service refrains from funding a new Hortense expedition, preferring to concentrate efforts nearer the Star Kingdoms; Captain Henna Rorsham resigns from the Service and begins fundraising for a private Hortense expedition.  The Sector 5 industrial era world of Franklin joins the Khalifate after a coup by the Ibrahimite minority and its invitation for Order of Purity intervention.
5480 The Bengali Dominions annexes pre-industrial Ohrmazd as part of the Prime Minister's drive to integrate all of the Bengali Central Region into the Dominions.
5481 Massive volcanic eruptions on Aglibol threaten the population centers of the Bengali Dominions world, killing millions and triggering a massive relief effort from neighboring Sector 59 worlds.
5482 Construction begins on the Great Nebular City in the Armpit Nebula, to replace the aging and war-damaged Verne Drift as the capital of the Federation of Orion; Rohan Norgalas rejects attempts to name the city after him.  Landrin Byurka refuses to sign the amendment to the Federation constitution that would grant him a third term, and his Vice-President, Larman Obura, succeeds him.
5483 With the annexation of Koyote, backed by Guardian troops establishing order among warring city-states, the Bengali Dominions completes the integration of its portions of the Central Region.
5484 Captain Henna Rorsham sets out from Markham toward Hortense aboard the chartered Algar Witness; the vessel and crew of twenty do not return.
5485 The government of Khaddahl "impounds" the Alimeen Confederation's Human-crewed macrojump contact vessel, Fairweather and detains the crew as local engineers disassemble the craft.
5486 An undetected 500m comet strikes Swarm 27, killing millions on the Sector 47 world and triggering a joint Swarm-Bengali relief effort.
5487 The Khaddahl surrender the crew and remaining components of the Fairweather to a follow-up Alimeen Confederation mission; the Confederation ends contact operations with the Khaddahl worlds.  The Bengali Dominions annexes Naga in Sector 44.
5488 The Osiran exile ship Citadel of Heaven enters the Khandor system in Sector 340, establishing itself in orbit around the late industrial era world.
5489 King Otto II dies on Lanander; his son Otto III becomes Star King, but Star King Arnham of Tannberg sides with the minority choice, the old King's cousin Prince Alexander Frey, beginning the Succession Wars that polarize the Kingdoms and end a century of peace in the region.
5490 The Star Kingdoms of Albus, Markham, Orpheus and Timbuktu side with Otto III's claim to the throne of Lanander, while Tannberg, Tesla and Irmingham support Prince Alexander's claim.  The Alexandrian fleet wins the First Battle of Tetonhaus, forcing the Ottonians to withdraw to Lanander; Alexander sets up a parallel government on Tetonhaus.
5491 The Alexandrians win the Battle of Agadir, killing Star King Pieter of Timbuktu; his daughter Klara declares herself Star Queen and retakes Agadir, driving off the Teslan fleet.  Backed by exiled Electors, Jafry Tull declares himself Star King of Timbuktu, declaring for the Alexandrian cause.
5492 After victory at the Battle of March Third and the purported death of Alexander, Star King Otto III occupies Tetonhaus in the wake of the rebel retreat.  The assassination of Star Queen Klara by an antimatter bomb destroys her flagship and shifts warfare to the Timbuktu Sector as the Ottonians refuse to accept Jafry Tull as Star King and support Pieter's younger daughter, Princess Ela, a professor of literature reluctantly pushed into political office.
5493 Alexander Frey reappears on Irmingham and with his elite Knights of Alexander, presses his claim to the throne of Lanander and declares his support for Jafry Tull's claim to Tmbuktu.  The Bengali Dominions expands into Sector 42, annexing Chimera.
5494 Ottonian forces from Lanander and Timbuktu defeat the Teslan fleet at the Battle of Daemos, killing Star King Basil I and pressing on to Tesla to push the ascendancy of his younger son Orlan; Basil's elder son, Basil (II) the Younger presses his claim, joining the Alexandrian faction.
5495 The bloody Raid on Shantara by the Knights of Alexander prompts formerly reluctant Orphean Star King Rundal to mobilize his entire fleet in support of the Ottonian cause.  Jafry Tull dies in defeat at the Battle of Turkana; the Ottonians follow with the Battle of Timbuktu, enthroning Ela as Star Queen after a public Election.
5496 Prince Alexander seizes control of the Lananderian world of Kalvin and fights off an Ottonian attack in the First Battle of Kalvin.  The Bengal Dominions expands into Sector 45, annexing Huashan.
5497 Alexander and his Knights retreat to Tannberg after the Second Battle of Kalvin liberates the world for Otto.  Both Orlan and Basil the Younger die in the Battle of Fermi.  An armistice sponsored by the Alimeen at Glow of Morning calls for a Kingdoms-wide truce and a neutral Election for Tesla, which appoints Fatima as Star Queen.  The First Truce begins across the Star Kingdoms.
5498 The Turgil Commonwealth begins annual trading expeditions from Yulmanar to Khald'aron.
5499 The Bengali Dominions intervenes in a civil war on Syrinx in Sector 44, supporting the Loyalists against the Abolitionists who call for Servant races freedom; the loyalist leader, Lord Kaz Fallon, becomes Bengali governor of the world.
5500 The mostly-complete Great Nebular City becomes the capital of the Federation of Orion as the Verne Drift approaches during the inauguration of President Venya Wei.  Nachen Lord President Thulsen falls to the bullet of an assassin at the centennial commemoration of his dictatorship; the Merchant Guild  supports John Ballan as Nachen's Lord President, encouraging him to take strong action against continued piracy.
5501 The Succession Wars resume in the Star Kingdoms after the antimattter assassination of Albian Star Queen Rain and her immediate family; the attack, which kills millions, is blamed on the exiled Knights of Alexander.  Lanander, Orpheus and Markham attack Tannberg and Irmingham, while Timbuktu and Tesla remain neutral. The two factions support rival claimants for the throne of Albus, Gale by the Ottonians and Breeze by the Alexandrians.
5502 The Knights of Alexander defeat the Ottonian Fleet at the Battle of Frum and jump to besiege Albus in the name of Queen Breeze.  The Osiran exile ship Eye of Ra reaches the Garissa system in Sector 339, settling into a LaGrange orbit behind the industrial era world's large moon.
5503 The sudden death of Star Queen Rebekah causes Markham to withdraw into neutrality, forcing Otto III to end his attempt to relieve Albus.  Anson becomes Star King of Markham in an undisputed election, but proclaims an armed neutrality in the current conflict.  Albus accepts Breeze as Star Queen, ending the siege and forcing Gale into exile on Lanander.  After the inconclusive Battle of Weisserstein, the Ottonians agree to a Second Truce in the Star Kingdom's Succession Wars.
5504 The rulers of Thisbe request membership in the Khalifate, inviting the Order of Purity to establish a base on the world and drawing a rebuke from the secular government on sister world Pyramus.
5505 The first Khaddahl starships begin exploring, salvaging and raiding in Sectors 27 and 124.  A Khalifate-sponsored expedition from Thisbe claims sole possession of the system's gas giants, triggering a protest from Pyramus, which launches an early fusion era armada to challenge the claim.
5506 The Bengali Dominions annexes Tasman in Sector 46; the billion inhabitants of the early industrial world trading access to advanced technology for Nobilis suzerainty.  Pyramian vessels clash with an Order of Generosity transport inbound for Thisbe, triggering a deadly response from the Order of Purity.
5507 The Order of Purity establishes an orbital blockade over Pyramus and destroys the world's three orbital stations; after a missile launch against the blockade, the Khalfate's ships being a selective orbital bombardment of military and industrial centers on Pyramus.
5508 The Order of Purity, supplemented by Thisbian troops, invades Pyramus, capturing the major cities and declaring the world a member of the Khalifate, giving Thisbe effective control of the star system in the Khalif's name and appointing a Thisbian Sultan, Kai Rem, as ruler.
5509 In a rouse, Garissan special forces gain control of the Eye of Ra after a running battle that forces the evacuation of the damaged Osiran exile ship and leads to the eventual internment of over a million Osiran survivors in the world's equatorial jungles.  The annexation of Hobbs completes the Bengali Dominions absorption of all non-Swarm inhabitant systems in Sector 47.
5510 After stories circulate that Prince Alexander Frey is actually a clone of the original, the Knights of Alexander begin attacks on Lanander and Orpheus, breaking the truce; a failed assassination attempt on Otto III kills thousands and triggers full warfare between the coalitions of Lanander and Orpheus and of Tannberg and Irmingham as the other four Star Kingdoms maintain careful armed neutrality.
5511 After Alexander wins the Second Battle of Tetonhaus and fortifies the world against attack, Albus openly joins the Alexandrian side, prompting Timbuktu to come to Otto's aid.
5512 Strike squadrons and marines from Lanander and Orpheus seize Albus, kill Breeze and install Gale as Star Queen; the Ottonian forces then fight off three counterattacks in the Battles of Albus.
5513 The Knights of Alexander begin commerce raiding across the Ottonian Star Kingdoms.  Star King Rundal of Orpheus wins the Battle of Faisal, forcing Alexander to withdraw back to Tannberg.  The Osiran exile ship Nome of the Sceptre reaches the Merchant Guild outpost at Harma Lun in Sector 313 and establishes itself in a trailing orbit behind the gas giant moon.
5514 King Martin II of Irmingham proposes the Third Truce after the defeat of his fleet at the Battle of Kaliban.  The Bengal Dominions annexes Edessa in Sector 44.
5515 The Khaddahl military elite forms the Asha'd Shudi Kha, literally Path to the Oasis, an organization that leads the race's recontact, military and often piratical space operations.
5516 The Osiran exile ship Vessel of Dawn arrives in orbit around the atomic era world of Outilak in Sector 369.
5517 Order of Truth missionaries engineer the entry of Romulus into the Khalifate, prompting Remus to launch a volley of nuclear missiles at the world; three missiles detonate on Romulus, though only one hits a population center; the Order of Valor intervenes to attack Remus, starting the Second Romulan War.
5518 The Order of Valor establishes footholds across most of populated Remus, but stubborn native resistance causes many causalities.
5519 The Second Romulan War ends soon after the capture of Reman resistance leader Lord Poalus Farr by Brigadier Urduman Hoar's Order of Valor commando unit.
5520 The Osiran exile ship White Mountain reaches the regressed pre-industrial world of Turin in Sector 762; after considerable debate and timely contact with a Guild trader, the Osirans decide to remain in orbit and begin some settlement of the world's deserted Southern Highlands.
5521 Star King Martin II orders hundreds of A7 lancers from various Irmingham shipyards, transferring many of them to the Knights of Alexander.
5522 Volos joins the Bengali Dominions; its Eternal Cyborg rulers accepting a role as the Council of Advisors to a Nobilis government.
5523 The Osiran exile ship Rebirth arrives at Lamadon in Sector 368 and after a tense standoff with the local information era government, establishes itself as a geosynchronous station under Lamadonian rule.
5524 The Osiran exile ship Promised Land reaches information era Farris in Sector 312 and enters a far orbit after being welcomed to join the planetary confederate government as a sovereign state.
5525 Urduman Hoar becomes the Grandmaster of the Khalifate's Order of Valor and begins a major force reorganization.
5526 The final phase of the Succession Wars begins after the Lanander Fleet attacks and defeats the Knights of Alexander at the Third Battle of Tetonhaus in response to suspected pirate activity.  The Irmingham Fleet responds by destroying the Lanander naval depot at Deep Harrow and bombarding Lanander itself before withdrawing.
5527 The combined Irmingham and Tannberg Fleets strike into Orphean space, occupying Helike and attacking Orpheus, winning the First Battle of Orpheus and forcing Star King Rundal and his fleet to withdraw to Galahad.
5528 The Knights of Alexander resume indiscriminate commerce raiding within the Ottonian-allied Star Kingdoms.  The combined fleets of Orpheus, Lanander and Albus drive off the occupation forces at the Second Battle of Orpheus, but fail to destroy many ships.  The Osiran exile ship River of Stars reaches the three settled worlds of the Morris system in Sector 314, establishing itself in an orbit leading the Guild base above Morris.
5529 Timbuktu joins the Ottonian alliance in response to Knights of Alexander raiding, and the Kingdoms of Tesla and Markham provide material support, though not warships, to the anti-Alexandrian forces. The Alexandrians hold fast, winning the Battle of Helike, a clash that destroys over twenty ships on each side.  The Osiran exile ship Lady of the Night arrives in the Nachen system, receiving a cool welcome; after mediation by Guild Fleet Captain Josefina Rault, the Lady of Night settles into an orbit around the outer system gas giant Grunnarberg and accepts Lord President Ballan's rule.
5530 Grandmaster Urduman Hoar of the Order of Valor encourages his fleets to revolt against the Khalif, calling for a Jihad of Expansion to supplant the Order of Truth incrementalist approach; the rebel fleet meets loyalist forces at their muster point in the Battle of Apollo, where Grandmaster Ilian Rauch of the Order of Purity leads the loyalists to victory, shattering the rebel fleet and killing Urduman Hoar.  The remnants of the Rebel fleet flee coreward, many becoming pirates or despotic conquers of regressed worlds.  The Merchant Guild begins to support the Ottonian Star Kingdom faction after suffering attacks from the Knights of Alexander.  At the Battle of Mellkannan, the Ottonian forces defeat the main Tannberg fleet, but Alexandrian harassment prevents an effective pursuit. 
5531 Star Kingdom armistice talks begin in orbit over Glow of Morning, but Otto III abandons the negotiations and orders his forces to attack the Alexandrian headquarters, destroying them at the Battle of Helgan in Irmingham space.
5532 Ottonian forces sweep through Tannberg space, subduing five worlds before starting the Siege of Tannberg; Star King Arnham and Prince Alexander flee to Irmingham with the remnants of their forces.  The Osiran exile ship Western Sun reaches the early industrial world of Armaghillis in Sector 396 and establishes itself in orbit, beginning a mostly peaceful takeover of the under-populated world.
5533 The world of Tannberg surrenders to the Ottonian fleet, allowing the alliance to install Schmeagan Jurma-Galli as Star Queen.  Alexandrian forces abandon their base at Mendes, some fleeing toward the core or south, some joining the Irmingham Fleet.  By command of the Khalif, Order of Ibrahim religious officers join the crews of all Terran Khalifate military vessels.
5534 Star King Otto III defeats the remaining Irmingham and Alexandrian forces at the Battle of Sanchez, killing Prince Alexander and exiled Star King Arnham.  With the combined Fleet pressing on Irmingham and the remaining Knights of Alexander fleeing, Star King Martin II abdicates in favor of his son, Martin III and accepts exile in Guild territory.  At Lanander, Otto III codifies a constitution for the Star Kingdoms Confederation and has himself installed as Great King by an election of the other seven sovereigns.

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