The Termination was a brutal campaign waged by the Technocratic Union in 2008 that functionally ended the Ascension War. It was catogorized by the deployment of apocalyptically destructive Enlightened weapons against Tradition Strongholds in the Umbra, often destroying entire Umbral Realms and sending ephemeral shrapnel and wreckage cascading throughout the Umbrascape, causing damage that is still not fully understood.
History
The Ascension War between the Council of the Nine Mystic Traditions and the Technocratic Union has lasted for centuries, dating back to the Union's original founding as the Order of Reason. At stake was the fundamental nature of Consensus Reality, with the Traditions fighting for more malleable, fluid Consensus and the Technocracy fighting for a single, stable, unified Consensus.
The stated goal of the Technocratic Union was an end to the tyranny that the Mages of the Mystic Traditions exerted over the Sleeper masses. By unifying the Consensus under the banner of science, the Union could both give the masses the tools to defend themselves and weaken the powerful Magick of the rival Mages.
Over the course of the centuries, the Union was successful: The Sleeper masses came to accept science as the truth of the world, and the forces of Paradox began to curb the potential of Mystic Magick. The Technocracy came to (secretly) control much of the world.
The Mystic Traditions were not defeated, however, for there was still a world where their powers dwarfed those of the Technocracy. Across the Gauntlet, in the spirit lands of the Umbra the Traditions still held sway, and their great Umbral fortresses were linked to Chantries back across the gauntlet. From their places of power, the Traditions were still able to wage effective war upon the neat, orderly Technocratic Consensus.
It was eventually determined that in order to bring a meaningful conclusion to the Ascension War, the Tradition strongholds in the Umbral Horizon would need to be destroyed.
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