Millennium War

Overview

The Millennium War (2741-3193), originally called the Eldevian/Silhadox War, was the over 400-year long war between the Eldevians and the Silhadox, both species residing in the Warmaiden Nebula of the Main Sector. It was named the Millennium War for three reasons: 1) though it was only 452 years, it felt like it had gone on for a thousand to the eldevians, 2) because it ended so close to the turn of the century, and 3) it was estimated that losses on both sides would add up to naturally occurring deaths if they had been spread out over a millennium.

History

Beginnings

After the eldevians gave the silhadox full autonomy within the Warmaiden Nebula in 2541, the sils began to steadily grow in power. Show Spoiler

It was later learned that the texlors had provided the silhadox with more advanced ships and technology, therefore putting them on par with the eldevians. This was part of their plan to eventually bring down the eldevians.

In 2738, the eldevians exiled terrorist Braxren Hosh. He was a known eldevian supremacist who hated the silhadox, and when the eldevians started in talks to trade with the sils, he took it upon himself to bomb the building where the talks were being held. He was stopped, however, and exiled. In retaliation to this, at the end of 2740, the silhadox leader, Gunmar-hald, was assassinated by Hosh. When captured by the sils, he claimed that he killed the hald to get back at the eldevian government for exiling him and to condemn them to war. He was later executed by the sils, and his legs were sent to Lord President Hrotharr Namren, in traditional silhadox fashion.
On September 26, 2741, the first shots were fired between the eldevian ship RS Letarr and the silhadox ship Gruumhold. Until that point, the silhadox had been boarding eldevian ships and kidnapping their crews, but no actual naval altercations took place. On a routine border patrol, the RS Letarr came across a seemingly abandoned silhadox ship. It was a trap, however. The Letarr and her crew were the first official casualties of the war.
For the most part, the eldevians and silhadox were pretty evenly matched, resulting in near-constant stalemates. For a long time, neither side could gain any advantage and only engaged in skirmishes.

Major Battles and Altercations

The Battle at Warrip Springs, which took place in June of 2967, was the first major loss during the war on the eldevian side. It occurred near the planet Triam in an area of the Ramakus sub-system called Warrip Springs, a natural well of sycerrion gas (used for powering homes across the quadrant). The eldevian navy's flagship, the RS Triad, was destroyed, and the entire crew was killed. The battle, which went on for three days, at first seemed to be going in the eldevians favor. Halfway through the third day, the eldevians had started to push the silhadox back, but an errant shot ignited an abnormally dense pocket of sycerrion gas, vaporizing half of the eldevian ships within the Spring. It is unclear which side is responsible for the shot, but the silhadox took full credit and touted their win as a decisive blow against the eldevians.
The first major loss for the texlors came at the Battle at Distile. Distile is the last planet in the Stilio sub-system, the home of Prema. After the destruction of the RS Triad, a new flagship for the eldevian fleet was commissioned: the RS Ramok (still in service as of 3193). The silhadox, in one of their many attempts to get the defense system codes, made an attempt to push into eldevian space in one of their biggest naval feats yet. It was said at the time that the silhadox leaders was so sure of their victory, that they did not follow proper fleet formation on their way to eldevian space. The eldevians had gotten wind of the impending attack, thanks to silhadox posturing, and the commander of the RS Ramok, Captain Gavron Maxarr (Threl Maxarr's father) surprised the silhdox at the border of the Stilio sub-system. Because they were not in battle formation and spread out far too thin, the eldevian ships were not only able to flank them but were able to break through their ranks and get in behind them. The silhadox tried to use Distile as cover, but the storms within the gas giant's atmosphere ripped many silhadox ships to shreds.
Because the eldevians had the Coalition of Assassins, it allowed them to stealthily take out major players within the silhadox government and military. The most notable of these assassins was Kansas Vantara who was a thorn in the silhadox's side near the end of the war. No one prior to her had been able to effectively take out such high-ranking silhadox. The sils put her at the top of their enemy list and even contracted the Black Hawks to take her out. It was thought that if the Coalition had not kicked Vantara out when they did, she could have crippled the silhadox leadership to a point where the eldevians could have made one last final attack on them and ended the war a few years earlier.

Life on Eldev

The silhadox did not attack Eldev outright because of the filter/defense system the eldevians had in place around their planet. Originally, the system was solely used as an air filtration system, but they later added a complex defense system that shrouded the entire planet in an unpenetrable force field. While this protected the eldevians from an all-out attack, it also made them prisoners on their own planet. There was only a small area of the force field that could be opened. The government placed certain restrictions on it, allowing it to be opened once per day (at random, alternating times) for sanctioned business only. The restrictions became so intense that eventually, once someone left the planet, they were not allowed back in unless they worked for the government.
For the most part, however, life went on as normal for the eldevians. The threat of the war loomed over them, but because it was being fought out in space and went on for as long as it did, the planet-bound, average citizen of Eldev tended to ignore it as best they could. Because of the war, however, there was a dramatic spike in the average size of families. Historically, eldevians had always had large families, given their lifespan, but after the war began, the need for people increased. The normal four or five child household became seven to eight. Children were accepted at a much higher rate into the Academy to train in the military. The Coalition expanded its pool of potential members. Those who did not cut it at the Academy typically went into the medical field or ship construction. Veterans of the war trained recruits and taught classes to prepare the younger generations to go out and fight.
Over time, the eldevians became increasingly withdrawn from the rest of the quadrant. While they still retained their membership with the Omicron government, they eventually stopped sending representatives to the Omicron High Council meetings.

Life on Prema

Whereas the eldevians attempted to keep life going as normally as they could, the silhadox embraced the war. All media turned into war propaganda (to the point where they had their sights set on other species beyond the eldevians, should they win). There were very few silhadox that did not help out with the war effort in some way. In fact, those that were suspected of not supporting the war would end up disappearing without a trace and all records of them wiped (this fact is only known thanks to the silhadox resistance movement).
The silhadox built hundreds of weapons manufacturing plants, and dozens of shipyard stations were put into orbit around Prema.
About halfway through the war, there were rumors that the silhadox were in talks with the creagans about them joining forces to take over the Warmaiden Nebula more quickly. However, the silhadox later revealed that they viewed the creagans as weak, and if they had joined forces, the sils would have used their alliance to eventually take over the Quelran System. Upon hearing this, the creagans quickly deemed the silhadox their enemies, barred all travel of creagan vessels from silhadox controlled space, and stopped all trade to Prema (which was the creagans' primary source of kilvidium, an element used to make the hulls of their ships).

The End of the War

For most of the war, the silhadox had tried nearly everything to get their hands on the filter/defense system codes but to no avail. Every attempt, from bribes, threats, espionage, outright attacks, and assassinations were stopped by the eldevians at every turn for all 452 years. It was not until a man named Gehret Zephyr, along with the help of the mysterious TR, acquired the codes.
On November 29, 3193, Zephyr sent the codes to the silhadox, allowing them to bring down the defense side of the filter/defense system. They invaded Eldev in force. There was enough warning, however, thanks to Zephyr's bragging, that DOMAIN and Flush Enterprises ships were able to evacuate much of the population. Thousands of lives were still lost due to the sheer amount of sils that poured onto the planet, along with the ships that fired from orbit. Lord President Joss Kerarr, in a final attempt to save what was left, sent Kansas Vantara the filter codes with the instructions to use them, to turn off the filter system and poison anyone, including the silhadox, left on the planet. Eldev was then rendered uninhabitable, and the silhadox forces around the planet, who had been attacked not only by eldevian ships but also DOMAIN and FE ships, limped back to their own territory. Neither side declared victory, and, for all intents and purposes, the war is considered to have ended in a draw.

Aftermath

Show Spoiler

The silhadox, for the most part kept to themselves following the war, until they formed an alliance with the texlors during the Allegiance War. There was an underground group, however, born out of the Millennium War, that rebelled against the established sil government that aided the allied planets at the end of the war. Those still alive at the end, slowly, but surely, converted more and more silhadox to their cause which eventually led to a civil war, with the resistance group coming out victorious.
The eldevian survivors lived in a refugee camp for several months until a group of scientists were able to clean Eldev's air. They were able to return to Eldev in 3195 and begin rebuilding under the leadership of the new lord president, Danrath Vantara.

Work in progress!

Millennium War

2741-3193

Species/Groups Involved

Eldevians
Silhadox
Omicron Government (by proxy)
D.O.M.A.I.N. (in 3193)
Flush Enterprises
The Black Hawks

Locations

Warmaiden Nebula by R. H. Stevenson

Warmaiden Nebula

by R. H. Stevenson

Ramakus Sub-system

by R. H. Stevenson

Stilio Sub-system

by PlanetMaker; R. H. Stevenson

Eldev

by PlanetMaker; R. H. Stevenson

Prema

Conflict Type

War