Empire Day Massacre

Summary

Occuring on Pandalin Station  in the 134th year of the 8th Age the Empire Day Massacre is considered a defining moment in the formation of Voi'yar culture. During the early hours of Empire Day the residents of the station discovered that the usual offerings of food, water and celebrations were absent with the Station Manager offering gladiatorial games and races with entry fees and an array of traditional foods and drinks free only to those having completed a day of labour. 
Outraged at this breach of their basic rights and knowing across the sytem other imperial citizens were enjoying the days of celebration discontent quickly brewed. Citizens began to protest in the streets and in responce the Station Manager Richard Khan cancelled the games citing 'safety concerns'. News of this led a a descent of the protests into rioting across the station as workers, tired of their long shifts and often unfair pay for mined resources destroyed Imperial standards, statues and offices alongside their guild counterparts. 
Seeing the loss of control across the station Khan ordered the deactivation of the life support system and the immedeate evacuation of all Confederation of Guilds and Imperial personel. Word of this only exacerbated the chaos with the workers attempting to sieze control of the spaceports only to find them locked down denying access to the ships within.
By midday nearly the entire stations executive had been evacuated through the Kapechi docks leaving the workers with sabotaged life support and comms systems. There they waited in orbit contacting the Imperial Navy who arrived to lock the station down. By the time the navy arrived however the station had begun to descend into a state of irreversable decline. Unfiltered air poisoned the residents with their own breath and unregulated temperatures declined further and further until hypothermia froze the life out of the few others. Of the 13,000 residents at the time of the incident only 473 survived.

Spread

Though denied by the state news of the massacre spread amongst the Voi'yar through word of mouth, and recordings scavenged from the station. Despite it being under 'quarantine' due to an outbreak of the Spellplague the station became a point of pilgramage for Voi'yar discontent with the status quo. So frequent did these 'pilgramages' become that the Imperial Navy was forced to station a permanent guard around the station to ensure it was left alone.
This secretive nature ended when Empress Isabel Rodorian II launched a public inquiry into the event leading to the arrest and execution of Richard Khan for his actions. The inquiry was considered a PR stunt by many Voi'yar though it did come alongside a well admired opening of many previously closed files on historical crimes from the Imperial history.

Cultural Reception

The Empire Day Massacre is considered to be a defining moment in the development of Voi'yar culture. Marking one of the first major brakes between the nation of the void and the Confederation of Guilds it is often cited in opposition to guild propaganda.

Date of Setting

15th Marvi 8E-134