AIOD

This was effectively the war of Independence for the Belkuri from Calchekan rule. As the Belkuri began colonizing space the first alien society they encountered were the Calchekans, a highly spiritual people. The Calchekans, at first, appeared to be benevolent benefactors, greeting the younger Belkuri with open arms and assisting them in getting their first few colonies outside of Dante's Nebula going. Over the years it soon became apparent that this relationship was not going to last. As the decades turned into a century, the Calchekans began to slowly creep their influence into Belkuri society and their ships roamed freely in Belkuri space. Society slowly came to the notion they were being assimilated into a Calchekan satellite state and relations quickly began to erode as more and more Belkuri saw, from their point of view, that their freedoms and culture were dissolving. Skirmishes began to break out but they were isolated incidents as each of the Belkuri Nations didn't have the power or resources to expel the Calchekans on their own. It was at this point when the three Nations of the Belkuri- the Aiqoo, Belkad, Haroon- decided to join forces under a new banner as a Commonwealth to cast out the Calchekans. Humanity didn’t unify because they had resolved their differences, but out of a common foe. The war was long and bloody, but eventually the Belkuri fought the Calchekans to a stalemate. An armistice zone was created as a buffer between the two borders where colonies could exist for either race but no open conflict was allowed. It's known today as the Eisenburg Armistice Zone. The Calchekans call it The Redemption. Technically the war never ended as neither side hasn’t formally surrendered but the Calchekans and Belkuri recognize each other's governments and established territories. Relations are standoffish at best. Both sides allow diplomatic offices on each other's homeworlds but trade or partnership pacts of any kind don't exist. The Calchekans often refer to the Belkuri as 'lost children' in reference to their rejection of Calcheken culture and philosophy. There is a splinter group of Belkuri 'radicals' who have accepted the Calchekan religion and philosophy known as 'The Cult of Choo'nokr'. The Belkuri government is attempting to keep them from immigrating to Calchekan space as they fear it will begin a trend of unpatriotic defection. The Cult, in response, has resorted to Terrorist behavior and Piracy. The Calchekan government has no comment on the matter. The second civilization the Belkuri encountered was the Sprykon. As Belkuri expansion moved coreward and upspin they began to encounter sporadic encounters of Sprykon vessels. Relations and communications soon followed and the Sprykon claimed they simply desired to be left alone and establish their colonies. A few years after initial contact Belkuri colony ships began settling systems that the Government believed to be unclaimed, and still believe to the present. The Sprykon did not agree with this measure. They accused the Belkuri of annexing their space even though there were no signs of any Sprykon colony presence in the area of dispute. The Sprykon said differently. The Belkuri offered to negotiate a compromise but the Sprykon refused and declared the space theirs and promptly moved warships into the area to protect their investment. The Belkuri responded in kind and the situation continued to escalate until all out fighting erupted. Soon after a declaration of war was made by both sides and the first Border War had begun. Superior Belkuri ferocity and tactics allowed them to quickly over power the Sprykon and force them out. In response the Sprykon laid a heavy mine field along the entire border between the two races, posturing as victims and openly declaring to the galactic community that the Belkuri were power mad and that they had no choice but to blockade their space for their own safety. Many historians postulate that the war started because there wasn't enough knowledge known about the Sprykon culture and customs to effectively communicate with them and the Belkuri government at the time was in need of new worlds. Had the Belkuri known more of the Sprykon way of life the entire war may have been averted. Proponents to the war stated that the Sprykon never followed the Articles of Colonization and thus their claims to the systems in dispute were not valid. Nearly a century later, the Sprykon accused the Belkuri of placing surveillance vessels inside the mine field to spy on their border worlds and eavesdrop on border patrol activity. The Belkuri responded that their maneuvering in the mine field was well within their right as they reminded them a small portion of the field was on their side of the border. The Sprykon scoffed at the answer and began massing ships at the border. The Belkuri followed suit and for a while it was nothing but posturing and feinting maneuvers, trying to goad the other intoattacking. The situation reached the tipping point when a Sprykon intelligence probe was uncovered spying on several systems that were originally in dispute from the first war. This was also the first proof that the Sprykon were appropriating technologies from other races as the probe's technology was heavily influenced by Gellosian design. This discovery incensed the Belkuri Government and accused the Sprykon of spying in which the Sprykon accused the Belkuri of framing them in order to invade and annex more of their space. This did not help the already strained situation and as both sides, again, prepared for all out war, a third party, the Pelthorans from the beta sector, who share a border with the Belkuri, offered to arbitrate the conflict. The Sprykon and Belkuri agreed. Known as the Pelthor Summit, as it was held on the Pelthoran homeworld, both parties arrived to settle their differences. The summit appeared to be gaining momentum and it initially looked as if the situation on the border would end peacefully. This discovery incensed the Belkuri Government and accused the Sprykon of spying in which the Sprykon accused the Belkuri of framing them in order to invade and annex more of their space. This did not help the already strained situation and as both sides, again, prepared for all out war, a third party, the Pelthorans from the beta sector, who share a border with the Belkuri and Sprykon, offered to arbitrate the conflict. The Sprykon and Belkuri agreed. Known as the Pelthor Summit, as it was held on the Pelthoran homeworld, both parties arrived to settle their differences. The summit appeared to be gaining momentum and it initially looked as if the situation on the border would end peacefully. Unfortunately an engagement on the border between the frigate BNS Karny and the Uri-Tim, a Sprykon destroyer, tipped the first domino that would lead to the inevitable. Several investigations were made of what just happened between those two ships, but both were destroyed in the battle and the logs were corrupted. Needless to say, the summit collapsed and a declaration of war was made unanimously by both sides. The war raged twice as long as the first as both sides had had time to build up their forces and refine their technologies over the century. No systems were taken by either side and after many years of open fighting a cease fire was declared by the Belkuri only because they saw this conflict was quickly becoming a war of attrition and it had to end. The Sprykon agreed, and threw their propaganda into overdrive saying that they had 'run down the corrupt Belkuri War Machine'. This time a demilitarized zone was established where no ships from either side were allowed to tread. This zone encompassed most of the Sprykon mine field and holds to this day. System 42 is a solar system located deep inside the DMZ between the Belkuri Commonwealth and Sprykon Empire. It was a location that was arranged to be a point of peace and cooperation between the two societies with the hope of improving relations and understanding. The worlds in this system were designed to be co-administered by both sides where the Belkuri and Sprykon could co-exist together in hopes of learning from one another. For several years the plan looked like it was working. Many Belkuri and Sprykon were befriending and partaking in each other's cultural activities. The thought of another border war never happening again was picking up momentum and a new journey of peace was underway. The system descended into conflict when Belkuri racketeers took advantage of the trust of both the Sprykon and their own people to smuggle weapons through Belkuri and Sprykon space for the Torpin Syndicate, a notorious and very able Sprykon Criminal Organization. Sprykon Customs Agents discovered this underground network and, ignoring protocol by disclosing the information with their Belkuri peers, and reported directly back to Imperial Command on Imthaaji 2. The Empire took this as further confirmation of the Belkuri drive to undermine the Sprykon and the Empire sent in the Sar-Itt battle group to take the system. The Belkuri Militia was quickly overrun as the Sprykon Militias struck with the surprise arrival of the Imperial Warships. Other Belkuri were quickly taken hostage, others killed. Rumors spread that the Belkuri who populated the system were aware of 'the plan to undermine Sprykon society'. Belkuri warships arrived late and were greeted by a Sprykon war machine well into the invasion stages of conquering the system. A heavy deployment of Marines, the most since the Second Border War, were sent to liberate the Belkuri stuck on the worlds below. There were many space borne battles, mostly over the populated planets of the system. Belkuri Command was mostly concerned with rescuing it's people first and dealing with the political fallout second. The Information Ministry on New Haven put nearly all it's resources into keeping the situation from spiraling into a major wartime confrontation. For two weeks the Belkuri held it's breath, hoping a third border war wouldn't erupt. Near the end of the third week since the entire incident started, all trapped Belkuri still alive were rescued by Marines and safely aboard warships ferrying them to the Farcry system. The final planet left was the Sprykon sponsored dessert world known as Penth. Only a small percentage of the population during peacetime was Belkuri but it was a primary objective for Belkuri Command to extricate all citizens. This is where the climax of the battle of System 42 would ensue. The Belkuri battle group, the 3rd fleet, had diminished forces from the fighting but held an advantage over the Sar-Itt, an Imperial battle fleet whose majority of it's forces were in a blockade of Penth. As the 3rd fleet engaged the Sprykon forces to provide screening for Marine drop ships, the notorious Kiru-Kar battle group surfaced from Metaspace, behind the the Belkuri warships who were now severely out gunned. Lieutenant Abel Farraday, ignoring orders from the XO, positioned their ship, the BNS Harbinger, a battleship, into a 'pique' formation with the Kiru-Kar. This 'sacrificial maneuver' as the Sprykon refer to it, distracted the Kiru-Kar long enough for the Marines to evacuate the hostages off of Penth. The remaining ships then submerged into metaspace and headed for the Commonwealth. The Battle of System 42 was over but the political damage was severe. Any gains that were made between the two cultures were utterly obliterated and fears of a third border war were more palpable now than before the battle. Because the Belkuri couldn't find any empirical evidence of Sprykon involvement in what sparked the debacle, they were forced to publicly hand over System 42 to the Empire as a legitimate Sprykon colony system. It was the only way the Commonwealth could save face in the galactic community. System 42 is the closest Sprykon controlled location to the Commonwealth sitting a mere nine light years from the recognized Belkuri border and the only territorial system inside the DMZ. In the years afterward, many officers and tacticians were aware that the strategic significance of System 42 was troubling and it would provide an excellent launching point by Sprykon forces into the Commonwealth. System 42 is now the home to a large shipyard and military hub for the Empire and is also heavily monitored by the Belkuri Starnavy. Ramthok, a Sprykon system, was overrun with pirates that directly affected Belkuri coreward colonies. It was a major hub of the Torpin Syndicate and primary conduit for blackmarket commerce into the Belkuri Commonwealth. Crime was becoming a major issue and the ISF were unable to make the kinds of arrests necessary as the Sprykon Empire was not allowing any ISF vessels access. This put the Starnavy of the Commonwealth in a position to take action. Given the strong military and strategic elements of the Ramthok system a clever strategy would be required. This is where Abel Farraday was employed to lead a group that would come up with a plan of entry, execution, and exit along with other redundant strategies in case elements of the plan didn't go correctly. To oversee the clandestine execution of the operation he was stationed on the BNS Pentzel, an Observer class frigate that would infiltrate Sprykon space. The mission was executed decisively and the primary targets of the Torpin Syndicate were eliminated with DAGIR commandos. The Starnavy was able to gather excellent intelligence on the shipyards, personnel present there, and swiftly made their way back across the DMZ. Although the Sprykon eventually discovered what the Belkuri did they couldn't openly say anything because it would mean admitting that they were actively participating with the crime organization. For the Commonwealth, it was an information coup of impressive scale as they now had credible tactical and strategic information on the Empire’s outward territories. This was the last, decisive war of the lost Empyrean Civilization that happened two thousand years ago. It was titled The Last War by the survivors of the era because it signified two important events- the destruction of the Empyrean civilization and the beginning of the end for the massive Dalnoth Combine. Popular lore says the races who were conquered and forced by the Dalnoth- to destroy the Empyreans were awestruck by the ferocity and nobility these doomed people displayed. The character Empyreans demonstrated on the battlefield and in the previous peace time era was impressive. The Empyreans held off the inevitable for an extraordinarily long time despite the overwhelming numbers they were facing. After their destruction the races responsible for the forced genocide were inspired by the honor and passion the Empyreans displayed and, over time, matured into legend and story. The Empyrean’s matyrdom was the catalyst for rebellion against the Dalnoth Masters. By this time the Dalnoth were spread so thin keeping their thralls in check that it proved advantageous for the rebellion. The Sprykon, who were very close allies with the Empyreans, were so culturally and emotionally moved they had a hand their ally’s destruction they sparked the other prisoner races to revolt. Some centuries later after a massive struggle the Dalnoth Combine was reduced to a single world, Pirawk- the one they hide on to this day.

Project Cosmos (C) Nathan Temple & NecroCoffee Studios 2006-2009

This was effectively the war of Independence for the Belkuri from Calchekan rule. As the Belkuri began colonizing space the first alien society they encountered were the Calchekans, a highly spiritual people.

The Calchekans, at first, appeared to be benevolent benefactors, greeting the younger Belkuri with open arms and assisting them in getting their first few colonies outside of Dante's Nebula going. Over the years it soon became apparent that this relationship was not going to last.

As the decades turned into a century, the Calchekans began to slowly creep their influence into Belkuri society and their ships roamed freely in Belkuri space. Society slowly came to the notion they were being assimilated into a Calchekan satellite state and relations quickly began to erode as more and more Belkuri saw, from their point of view, that their freedoms and culture were dissolving.

Skirmishes began to break out but they were isolated incidents as each of the Belkuri Nations didn't have the power or resources to expel the Calchekans on their own. It was at this point when the three Nations of the Belkuri- the Aiqoo, Belkad, Haroon- decided to join forces under a new banner as a Commonwealth to cast out the Calchekans. Humanity didn’t unify because they had resolved their differences, but out of a common foe.

The war was long and bloody, but eventually the Belkuri fought the Calchekans to a stalemate. An armistice zone was created as a buffer between the two borders where colonies could exist for either race but no open conflict was allowed. It's known today as the Eisenburg Armistice Zone. The Calchekans call it The Redemption. Technically the war never ended as neither side hasn’t formally surrendered but the Calchekans and Belkuri recognize each other's governments and established territories.

Relations are standoffish at best. Both sides allow diplomatic offices on each other's homeworlds but trade or partnership pacts of any kind don't exist. The Calchekans often refer to the Belkuri as 'lost children' in reference to their rejection of Calcheken culture and philosophy.

There is a splinter group of Belkuri 'radicals' who have accepted the Calchekan religion and philosophy known as 'The Cult of Choo'nokr'. The Belkuri government is attempting to keep them from immigrating to Calchekan space as they fear it will begin a trend of unpatriotic defection. The Cult, in response, has resorted to Terrorist behavior and Piracy. The Calchekan government has no comment on the matter.

The second civilization the Belkuri encountered was the Sprykon. As Belkuri expansion moved coreward and upspin they began to encounter sporadic encounters of Sprykon vessels. Relations and communications soon followed and the Sprykon claimed they simply desired to be left alone and establish their colonies.

A few years after initial contact Belkuri colony ships began settling systems that the Government believed to be unclaimed, and still believe to the present. The Sprykon did not agree with this measure. They accused the Belkuri of annexing their space even though there were no signs of any Sprykon colony presence in the area of dispute. The Sprykon said differently.

The Belkuri offered to negotiate a compromise but the Sprykon refused and declared the space theirs and promptly moved warships into the area to protect their investment. The Belkuri responded in kind and the situation continued to escalate until all out fighting erupted. Soon after a declaration of war was made by both sides and the first Border War had begun.

Superior Belkuri ferocity and tactics allowed them to quickly over power the Sprykon and force them out. In response the Sprykon laid a heavy mine field along the entire border between the two races, posturing as victims and openly declaring to the galactic community that the Belkuri were power mad and that they had no choice but to blockade their space for their own safety. Many historians postulate that the war started because there wasn't enough knowledge known about the Sprykon culture and customs to effectively communicate with them and the Belkuri government at the time was in need of new worlds. Had the Belkuri known more of the Sprykon way of life the entire war may have been averted.

Proponents to the war stated that the Sprykon never followed the Articles of Colonization and thus their claims to the systems in dispute were not valid.

Nearly a century later, the Sprykon accused the Belkuri of placing surveillance vessels inside the mine field to spy on their border worlds and eavesdrop on border patrol activity. The Belkuri responded that their maneuvering in the mine field was well within their right as they reminded them a small portion of the field was on their side of the border. The Sprykon scoffed at the answer and began massing ships at the border. The Belkuri followed suit and for a while it was nothing but posturing and feinting maneuvers, trying to goad the other intoattacking.

The situation reached the tipping point when a Sprykon intelligence probe was uncovered spying on several systems that were originally in dispute from the first war. This was also the first proof that the Sprykon were appropriating technologies from other races as the probe's technology was heavily influenced by Gellosian design.

This discovery incensed the Belkuri Government and accused the Sprykon of spying in which the Sprykon accused the Belkuri of framing them in order to invade and annex more of their space. This did not help the already strained situation and as both sides, again, prepared for all out war, a third party, the Pelthorans from the beta sector, who share a border with the Belkuri, offered to arbitrate the conflict. The Sprykon and Belkuri agreed.

Known as the Pelthor Summit, as it was held on the Pelthoran homeworld, both parties arrived to settle their differences. The summit appeared to be gaining momentum and it initially looked as if the situation on the border would end peacefully.

This discovery incensed the Belkuri Government and accused the Sprykon of spying in which the Sprykon accused the Belkuri of framing them in order to invade and annex more of their space. This did not help the already strained situation and as both sides, again, prepared for all out war, a third party, the Pelthorans from the beta sector, who share a border with the Belkuri and Sprykon, offered to arbitrate the conflict. The Sprykon and Belkuri agreed.

Known as the Pelthor Summit, as it was held on the Pelthoran homeworld, both parties arrived to settle their differences. The summit appeared to be gaining momentum and it initially looked as if the situation on the border would end peacefully.

Unfortunately an engagement on the border between the frigate BNS Karny and the Uri-Tim, a Sprykon destroyer, tipped the first domino that would lead to the inevitable. Several investigations were made of what just happened between those two ships, but both were destroyed in the battle and the logs were corrupted. Needless to say, the summit collapsed and a declaration of war was made unanimously by both sides.

The war raged twice as long as the first as both sides had had time to build up their forces and refine their technologies over the century. No systems were taken by either side and after many years of open fighting a cease fire was declared by the Belkuri only because they saw this conflict was quickly becoming a war of attrition and it had to end. The Sprykon agreed, and threw their propaganda into overdrive saying that they had 'run down the corrupt Belkuri War Machine'. This time a demilitarized zone was established where no ships from either side were allowed to tread. This zone encompassed most of the Sprykon mine field and holds to this day.

System 42 is a solar system located deep inside the DMZ between the Belkuri Commonwealth and Sprykon Empire. It was a location that was arranged to be a point of peace and cooperation between the two societies with the hope of improving relations and understanding. The worlds in this system were designed to be co-administered by both sides where the Belkuri and Sprykon could co-exist together in hopes of learning from one another. For several years the plan looked like it was working. Many Belkuri and Sprykon were befriending and partaking in each other's cultural activities. The thought of another border war never happening again was picking up momentum and a new journey of peace was underway.

The system descended into conflict when Belkuri racketeers took advantage of the trust of both the Sprykon and their own people to smuggle weapons through Belkuri and Sprykon space for the Torpin Syndicate, a notorious and very able Sprykon Criminal Organization. Sprykon Customs Agents discovered this underground network and, ignoring protocol by disclosing the information with their Belkuri peers, and reported directly back to Imperial Command on Imthaaji 2. The Empire took this as further confirmation of the Belkuri drive to undermine the Sprykon and the Empire sent in the Sar-Itt battle group to take the system.

The Belkuri Militia was quickly overrun as the Sprykon Militias struck with the surprise arrival of the Imperial Warships. Other Belkuri were quickly taken hostage, others killed. Rumors spread that the Belkuri who populated the system were aware of 'the plan to undermine Sprykon society'.

Belkuri warships arrived late and were greeted by a Sprykon war machine well into the invasion stages of conquering the system. A heavy deployment of Marines, the most since the Second Border War, were sent to liberate the Belkuri stuck on the worlds below. There were many space borne battles, mostly over the populated planets of the system. Belkuri Command was mostly concerned with rescuing it's people first and dealing with the political fallout second. The Information Ministry on New Haven put nearly all it's resources into keeping the situation from spiraling into a major wartime confrontation. For two weeks the Belkuri held it's breath, hoping a third border war wouldn't erupt.

Near the end of the third week since the entire incident started, all trapped Belkuri still alive were rescued by Marines and safely aboard warships ferrying them to the Farcry system. The final planet left was the Sprykon sponsored dessert world known as Penth. Only a small percentage of the population during peacetime was Belkuri but it was a primary objective for Belkuri Command to extricate all citizens. This is where the climax of the battle of System 42 would ensue.

The Belkuri battle group, the 3rd fleet, had diminished forces from the fighting but held an advantage over the Sar-Itt, an Imperial battle fleet whose majority of it's forces were in a blockade of Penth. As the 3rd fleet engaged the Sprykon forces to provide screening for Marine drop ships, the notorious Kiru-Kar battle group surfaced from Metaspace, behind the the Belkuri warships who were now severely out gunned.

Lieutenant Abel Farraday, ignoring orders from the XO, positioned their ship, the BNS Harbinger, a battleship, into a 'pique' formation with the Kiru-Kar. This 'sacrificial maneuver' as the Sprykon refer to it, distracted the Kiru-Kar long enough for the Marines to evacuate the hostages off of Penth. The remaining ships then submerged into metaspace and headed for the Commonwealth. The Battle of System 42 was over but the political damage was severe. Any gains that were made between the two cultures were utterly obliterated and fears of a third border war were more palpable now than before the battle.

Because the Belkuri couldn't find any empirical evidence of Sprykon involvement in what sparked the debacle, they were forced to publicly hand over System 42 to the Empire as a legitimate Sprykon colony system. It was the only way the Commonwealth could save face in the galactic community. System 42 is the closest Sprykon controlled location to the Commonwealth sitting a mere nine light years from the recognized Belkuri border and the only territorial system inside the DMZ.

In the years afterward, many officers and tacticians were aware that the strategic significance of System 42 was troubling and it would provide an excellent launching point by Sprykon forces into the Commonwealth. System 42 is now the home to a large shipyard and military hub for the Empire and is also heavily monitored by the Belkuri Starnavy.

Ramthok, a Sprykon system, was overrun with pirates that directly affected Belkuri coreward colonies. It was a major hub of the Torpin Syndicate and primary conduit for blackmarket commerce into the Belkuri Commonwealth. Crime was becoming a major issue and the ISF were unable to make the kinds of arrests necessary as the Sprykon Empire was not allowing any ISF vessels access. This put the Starnavy of the Commonwealth in a position to take action.

Given the strong military and strategic elements of the Ramthok system a clever strategy would be required. This is where Abel Farraday was employed to lead a group that would come up with a plan of entry, execution, and exit along with other redundant strategies in case elements of the plan didn't go correctly. To oversee the clandestine execution of the operation he was stationed on the BNS Pentzel, an Observer class frigate that would infiltrate Sprykon space.

The mission was executed decisively and the primary targets of the Torpin Syndicate were eliminated with DAGIR commandos. The Starnavy was able to gather excellent intelligence on the shipyards, personnel present there, and swiftly made their way back across the DMZ. Although the Sprykon eventually discovered what the Belkuri did they couldn't openly say anything because it would mean admitting that they were actively participating with the crime organization. For the Commonwealth, it was an information coup of impressive scale as they now had credible tactical and strategic information on the Empire’s outward territories.

This was the last, decisive war of the lost Empyrean Civilization that happened two thousand years ago. It was titled The Last War by the survivors of the era because it signified two important events- the destruction of the Empyrean civilization and the beginning of the end for the massive Dalnoth Combine.

Popular lore says the races who were conquered and forced by the Dalnoth- to destroy the Empyreans were awestruck by the ferocity and nobility these doomed people displayed. The character Empyreans demonstrated on the battlefield and in the previous peace time era was impressive.

The Empyreans held off the inevitable for an extraordinarily long time despite the overwhelming numbers they were facing. After their destruction the races responsible for the forced genocide were inspired by the honor and passion the Empyreans displayed and, over time, matured into legend and story. The Empyrean’s matyrdom was the catalyst for rebellion against the Dalnoth Masters. By this time the Dalnoth were spread so thin keeping their thralls in check that it proved advantageous for the rebellion. The Sprykon, who were very close allies with the Empyreans, were so culturally and emotionally moved they had a hand their ally’s destruction they sparked the other prisoner races to revolt. Some centuries later after a massive struggle the Dalnoth Combine was reduced to a single world, Pirawk- the one they hide on to this day.

Project Cosmos (C) Nathan Temple & NecroCoffee Studios 2006-2009