Old Voxelian Conquest

The Old Voxelian Conquest (known to contemporary sources simply as the Voxelian Conquest) was a period of militaristic expansion spearheaded by a series of Old Voxelian warlords over the course of almost 20 years. The conflict saw the unification of seven previously independent tribes of humans into the Voxelian Empire (later reformed as Voxelia under the rule of the rebellious Council of Liars), the foundation of the Elovisian culture (and later Coalition states), and the spread of the Church of the Unexpected throughout the Human Arc in the Medial Tesseract.

The Conflict

Prelude

Medial A1 was the traditional homeland of the human race, with the very first humans in the Manifold purported to have appeared in this region at the conclusion of The Curved Time. Even so, there is evidence that this foundational event was diffuse, with human settlements having been observed all the way back to the first millenia throughout Medial A and a few isolated instances occuring elsewhere in the Medial Tesseract as well. Over time, kin groups in Medial A formed tribes which, as human groups are wont to do, formed alliances and fought one another over territory, mates, and food resources.

This geopolitical arrangement was stable for a long time but it could not last. Eventually, tribes located in the Silkenthicket region (near modern Silkenvault) gathered into particularly large alliances with one another, forming the early Voxelian culture. Sokalyx the Learned followed a warlord during this period of formation as he set about making the earliest of such alliances, cataloguing every tribal religion he encountered while his lord was on campaign and later writing the Incunabula of the House of the Unexpected based on these experences. Sokalyx's gift of shared language, literature, and religious belief further reinforced the shared identity of the rapidly expanding Silkenthicket Voxelian tribes.

Seal of the Unexpected by BCGR_Wurth

Over the course of the next two millenia, the balance of power in Medial A progressively shifted in favor of the more organized Voxelian tribes against their neighbors. Stone fortifications and bronze foundries sprang up throughout Medial A as each tribe sought to hold out against the slow encroach of the alliance's slowly encroaching borders.

GAV Seal by BCGR_Wurth

The discovery of ironworking in Silkenthicket around the year 6000 AX - along with the realization that iron djet could sunder bronze weapons and armor - eventually proved to be the spark that led to the Voxelian Conquests. While the discovery itself made Old Voxelian forces better armed than their peers, they were content to slowly hedge out competitors until additional rich deposits of the now-valuable iron ore were discovered in the inhabited edge mountains leading into Medial A2. This created a draw for Voxelian adventurism which cut through the occupied territories of yet more neighboring tribes, wereupon the invading forces would hear rumors of yet more ores located in yet more distant faces.

This spiral of greed and conquest culminated in the formal agreement between many alliance members, headed by (later Emperor) Martram Vast, to make a 'final push' for Medial A domination starting in 6098 AX, a project which took almost 20 years of sustained fighting to come to fruition.

Outcome

Once the resistance of all outlying tribes was broken, the leaders of the tribes which had assisted the Voxelian warlords out of Silkenthicket took the title of King and elevated the Silkenthicket warlord to the position of Emperor of Voxelia. Operations still continued on the frontier of the empire for some years, as pockets of rebellion still sprang up from time to time in response to the pillaging and atrocities carried out by triumphant Voxelian armies. Any remaining minor tribes in Medial A were either wiped out, forced to flee across the commissures, or forcibly integrated into the Voxelian empire as laborers and second-class citizens. The fleeing tribes were not pursued for several decades, however, as the Voxelian Empire set about consolidating its own power and lacked the ability at the time to logistically support military operations across commissures.

Aftermath

The tribes forced out of Medial A found life in the unfamiliar cubes beyond Medial A difficult. Many later died out due to having stumbled into the somewhat inhospitable Northern- and Southern-adjacent cubes, where low-level particle radiation reduced fertility, increased birth defects, weakened immune systems, and induced cancer in many survivors. Those who were lucky enough to stumble into the hot, but otherwise hospitable Medial B cube were best able to make their escape, further pushing into Medial C over the course of the following century to get as far away from their pursuers. There, these groups found that their shared traumatic exile from their homeland was a culturally unifying experience. As a result, over the course of several more centuries, many tribes gathered together into what became known as the Elovisian culture. The remainder joined with other, tiny groups Lost Tribes origins - ekeing out existence in prior isolation throughout the Medial Tesseract - to become part of what are now known as the Freelanders.
The conclusion of the Old Voxelian Conquest also marked the division between the Old Voxelian and New Voxelian cultures. Previously, anyone from around the region of Silkenthicket considered themselves 'Voxelian' in ethnicity, but the union with more tribes from various regions of Medial A (i.e. across the vertex mountain ranges) and institution of a centralized civic life marked a change from Voxelian as a genealogical identity to one as a civic identity. As such, the old Silkenthicket culture became known as the Old Voxelian culture, while the culture of those born into the broader Voxelian Empire became known as the New Voxelian culture.
As a result of the centralization and extensive masonry fortifications of the Silkenthicket region, the 'thicket' part of the name made increasingly less sense as the wilderness gave way to medieval urban sprawl. The name of this region was subsequently changed to Silkenvault to reflect this new reality, a name which persisted into the formation of the modern Voxelian under the Council of Liars.

Historical Significance

Legacy

Notably, as the Unexpector religion predated this split - with Sokalyx the Learned penning his famous Incunabula of the House of the Unexpected sometime around the year 4216 AC) - the faith followed the emigrants throughout the Medial Tesseract, becoming the dominant religion of the human race.
Millenia after the Old Voxelian Conquest, the geopolitical ramifications of the war remain widespread. Voxelian colonists attempting to expand into cubes adjacent with Medial A would frequently encounter remaining Elovisian and Freelander tribes whose entire cultural experience was shaped by Voxelian rapaciousness and violence. Though often successful in military conflict against these remnants, colonial progress was greatly slowed on entry into Medial C by environmental conditions (Voxelians are traditionally not used to the arid conditions of Eastern-adjacent cubes), overextended supply lines, and the sympathy-inspiring history of the locals.

These most far-flung colonies usually 'went native,' disappearing only to reappear as new additions to the swelling Elovisian culture which adopted them as fellow exiles (albeit willing ones) from the verdant plains of Medial A. These breakaway colonies became the Free Faces League, Craterhold, and the Commonwealth of C, a group of nations who, while differing amongst one another in overall Voxelian-Elovisian composition and political outlook, shared a burning desire to stay away from the grasp of the Voxelian state. The spread of Voxelian technology and science into the breakaway colonies through raids on subsequent Voxelian expeditions exacerbated friction between the factions.

Coalition Insignia by BCGR_wurth

While Voxelian tax men, explorers, and military officials bristled at the idea of a growing Elovisian nation seeking to carve out some of The Human Arc's resources for themselves - resources the Voxelian state needed to keep feeding its exploding population - there was little they could do about this problem until the invention of Steamtech (and later Dieseltech) made travel much easier. This international rivalry and long period of cultural isolation from one another culminated in the War of Reunification between Voxelia and the Coalition of Breakaway Colonies, a conflict which persists as of the year 10,000 AR.

Voxelian Standard by BCGR_Wurth

Conflict Type

Military Campaign

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

6098 AX

Ending Date

6117 AX

Conflict Result

Voxelian Victory

Belligerents

Voxelian Kingdoms

Elovisian Tribes

Strength

• Warlord Krugold Chorster's warband (Umberlake region)
• Warlady Rotelia of Blades' warband (Wirtsholm region)
• Warlord Martram Vast's legion (Silkenthicket region)
• 6 smaller allied tribes (specific composition unknown)

~17 independent tribes across Medial A

Casualties

2 allied tribes destroyed and resorbed into the new Voxelian Empire as petty nobles

• 10 tribes destroyed
• 5 tribes expelled from Medial A
• 2 tribes facing unknown fates

Objectives