Terminus Wars

Series of wars culminating in a nuclear exchange which destroyed Polganite technological civilization on their homeworld. Occurred approximately three centuries before humans made contact.

Prelude

The stage was set by the Landship War a few decades earlier, abruptly brought to a stalemate by the invention of nuclear weapons.
Polganite civilization at the time was completely dependent on fossil fuels for energy, and oil reserves on their small world began to run out. When production peaked, food prices skyrocketed and transportation became increasingly inaccessible. This drove governments into launching wars to seize the remaining resources. From there the conflict escalated into an all-out nuclear exchange. What exactly touched off the apocalypse remains unknown: was it desperation, miscalculation by one side, a simple accident, or something else?

The Conflict

Outcome

With most of their cities destroyed, the capabilities of the Polganite nations were smashed. Some ceased to function entirely, others continued operations and even fought small wars with each other using the last remaining military supplies. In many places survivors from cities were marched into refugee camps where they died from starvation and disease.

Aftermath

While the Polganite species was by no means extinct their ability to rebuild was cut off as the planet's easily-accessible fossil fuel deposits had all been depleted before the war. It is possible a concerted recovery effort to preserve as much technology as possible could have restarted civilization with a nuclear power base, but it is not surprising this did not happen.
In the decades and centuries which followed, the Polganites reverted to a pre-industrial existence with some eighty to ninety percent of their surviving population devoted to farming. They lost much of their specialized knowledge but still retained a scientific understanding of things such as electricity, which continued to be used with crude generators and waterwheels. A telegraph and radio network eventually emerged to connect different regions, but civilization never resumed its fossil-fueled prosperity.

Conflict Type

War

Conflict Result

Destruction of Polganite civilization

Belligerents

Sun Empire

Led by

Strength

Landships, nuclear missiles and bombers, bioweapons

Casualties

Nation destroyed

Objectives

Secure resources from enemies

Eastern Oil States

Led by

Strength

Landships, most of the planet's remaining fossil fuel reserves

Casualties

Territory poisoned with radiation

Objectives

Defend against conquest

Majestic Parliamentcy

Led by

Strength

Landships, nuclear missiles, chemical weapons

Casualties

Technology base and most cities destroyed, never recovered

Objectives

Secure resources from enemies