BARLAT WAR
The Barlat War was a galaxy-wide conflict between the Barlat Concordiat and the Laptev Axis, the two superpowers of the FB-1 region during the 25th century. Following years of increasing tensions, a standoff in the Agnes System escalated into a multi-national conflict that would engulf the entirety of FB-1, ending in a Pyrrhic Axis victory that eventually led to the destabilisation of the entire region.
BACKGROUNDThe Laptev Axis was a loose geopolitical alliance centered around the planet of Laptev. Its members were primarily concerned with expanding their trade interests, and were known for their aggressive and uncompromising attitudes towards diplomacy. The Axis included the Jade Empire of Ingen, the Ystovian Socialist State, the People's Republic of Imaginarium, the Universal Peace Enforcement Organisation, the Katasian Ryk, the Serene Republic of San Marino, the Republic of North Tasmania, Jamesistan and Dong Wu, as well as many other allies.
The Barlat Concordiat, arranged along similar lines, was an interventionist progressivist alliance with a less militant outlook. Led by the New Free Planets Alliance, other members included the Republics of Alexzonya, Kira's Kingdom, the Kingdom of Jovepenia, the United Pokemon Types, the Ish'Cong, the American Republic and others. The nations of the Barlat Concordiat and the Laptev Axis had initially enjoyed friendly relations, fighting as allies in the Vong War, the Carthaginian War and the War on Holy Trek Concordiat forces from the NFPA assisted Ingen during Kuntrian War and the Axis dispatched a fleet to support the Concordiat when they came under siege by the rogue nation of Czechanada. As both factions grew in numbers and power, however, they repeatedly clashed over foreign affairs, such as the ARN war and the Axis immolation of the Walpha System. |
The Axis and Concordiat nearly came to blows during the Battle of Solaris, and only the conditional surrender of Nationale Einheit to the Axis prevented an exchange of fire between Ystovian and Kiran fleets. Shortly afterwards, seeking revenge for the deaths of Ishii civilians killed during the Weapons Free incident, the Ishii terrorist group Thenion's Immaculate Kin detonated a bomb in the Jade Imperial Goods Exchange on the Neubremen Shipyards, killing several thousand civilians. By early 2443AT, the two factions were on the brink of war.
COURSE OF THE WAR
BATTLE OF TAIAL
Outraged by the bombing of the Goods Exchange, the Jade Empire demanded permission to dispatch a team of investigators to the Ishii Isetyai System, the suspected origin of the attack. The Jade Empire dispatched four destroyers and a ground team to the system to investigate, but claimed to have met with an extreme lack of co-operation from the local authorities, including intentional destruction of evidence. The Imperial investigators covertly set up and deployed a MSPDD weapon, a towering device designed to burrow through a planetary core and explode. The Ish'Cong avoided the destruction of the planet by utilising endo-planetary shielding, a secret technology never seen before, which prevented the blast from destroying the planet's core. Despite this the blast did obliterate the Ishii city of Amren, killing 750,000 Ishii civilians. The Imperials withdrew from the Isetyai System, losing the IJN Long Reach as it fought a rearguard action against the vengeful Ishii warfleets.
BATTLE OF AGNES
Simultaneously, the Shayan Federation was conducting a pacification campaign in the Agnes System, assisted by the Nalydian Empire. Ish'Cong forces in-system attempted to intervene, with the situation developing into a standoff as Katasia and Imperial fleets arrived to reinforce the Shayans and Nalydyans. When the MSPDD was detonated at Taial, the Jade Empire declared war on Ish'Cong and Axis fleets in the Agnes system launched a surprise attack on the Concordiat fleets there. The Concordiat, outnumbered, withdrew, sacrificing their rearguard but preserving the bulk of their fleet. The first battle of the war, Agnes was considered a tactical victory for the Axis but a strategic victory for the Concordiat, a trend which would continue until the final battle of the war as Axis combat competency struggled to compensate for superior Concordiat logistical and strategic planning.
BATTLE OVER TERRA
Following the events at Agnes and Taial, the Imperial Jade Navy moved to attack Concordiat fleets in the Sol System in support of a ground offensive there. The initial combat went in favour of the IJN, but Concordiat reinforcements flowed into the system and eventually forced the IJN to retreat. The IJN 4th Fleet, led by Admiral John Cornewaille, staged a rearguard action and suffered heavy casualties, but this allowed the rest of the Axis navy to regroup in orbit around Jupiter in preparation for a counterattack.
On the ground, Jade Imperial forces in Britannia launched a surprise assault on Kiran holdings in the south of the isles. The assault was initially successful, but following the defeat of the navy above the Concordiat leveraged their air superiority to drive the Jade forces back, occupying vast swathes of Imperial territory on Terra and driving back their ground forces at every opportunity. The sole victory of the ground campaign for the Jade Empire was at the Battle of York, when overconfident Jovepenian forces advanced ahead of the rest of the Concordiat armies and were decimated by infantry under the command of Theoden Seawatcher, but the success was shortlived as Seawatcher was eventually compelled to withdraw to the fortress of York by Kiran reinforcements. There he resisted a determined Concordiat siege for months, whilst to the north, a UCR invasion of Jade Imperial territories around Edinborough developed into another siege as defenders led by Commander Volund proved incapable of dislodging the Concordiat besiegers.
On the ground, Jade Imperial forces in Britannia launched a surprise assault on Kiran holdings in the south of the isles. The assault was initially successful, but following the defeat of the navy above the Concordiat leveraged their air superiority to drive the Jade forces back, occupying vast swathes of Imperial territory on Terra and driving back their ground forces at every opportunity. The sole victory of the ground campaign for the Jade Empire was at the Battle of York, when overconfident Jovepenian forces advanced ahead of the rest of the Concordiat armies and were decimated by infantry under the command of Theoden Seawatcher, but the success was shortlived as Seawatcher was eventually compelled to withdraw to the fortress of York by Kiran reinforcements. There he resisted a determined Concordiat siege for months, whilst to the north, a UCR invasion of Jade Imperial territories around Edinborough developed into another siege as defenders led by Commander Volund proved incapable of dislodging the Concordiat besiegers.
THE GREAT SIEGES
As the situation on Terra settled down into a quiet stalemate, Axis forces from the Ystovian Starfleet and the Katasian Ryksmarine moved in force to lay siege to Kirov, the capital system of Kira's Kingdom, and to the Ish'Cong system of Taial. Protected by an extensive defensive network, the systems themselves remained relatively unscathed, but access was throttled by the presence of the Axis warships, with neither side willing to advance and risk a costly battle. The Nalydian Empire, allies of the Axis, simultaneously laid siege to the Kiran system of Ameratsu to much the same end, with all three sieges remaining in place until the end of the war, the Concordiat defenses holding out successfully.
The Great Houses of Xie attempted to launch a siege of their own and deployed a fleet, headed by one of their famed Shipyards, to the Nalydian heartlands. Admiral Heinrich Dieter of the Nalydyan Empire was able to break this siege, however, and after a brief and intense firefight, the Great Houses Shipyard was damaged by shells from the HRF Alabaster Fury and was compelled to quit the system, followed shortly after by the rest of the Great Houses force.
The Great Houses of Xie attempted to launch a siege of their own and deployed a fleet, headed by one of their famed Shipyards, to the Nalydian heartlands. Admiral Heinrich Dieter of the Nalydyan Empire was able to break this siege, however, and after a brief and intense firefight, the Great Houses Shipyard was damaged by shells from the HRF Alabaster Fury and was compelled to quit the system, followed shortly after by the rest of the Great Houses force.
ASSAULT ON LAPTEV
The Concordiat, eager to find a quick solution to the war, developed a makeshift gravitiational mass accelerator construct which they built in secret in the uninhabited Zakhaev System. They used this accelerator construct to launch three magnetar stars towards the Laptev System, hoping to crush the Axis fleets there and destroy the planet of Laptev, ending the war in one swift blow and ending billions of lives in an instant. The attack failed after the OSL Charon, flagship of the Katasian Order of the Watcher, deployed its entropic drives to redirect the magnetars away from the system. This failed assault on the Laptev System convinced the Order to join the war in earnest, assisting the Katasian Ryk with their considerable firepower, advanced technology and powerful armoured Knights.
BATTLE OVER SERA
Seeking a swift end to the war, the Axis Joint Command elected to risk everything on a cataclysmic battle. Knowing that the Concordiat military strategists were already considering the Katasian industrial world of Sera as a potential target for their next assault, the Jade Empire began covertly reinforcing planet with elements of the brownwater Jade Defence Force. The Axis also disseminated false information that the Jade Empress and Commander Sheaker of the Order of the Watcher would be meeting there to discuss strategies to retake Terra.
Convinced by the opportunity to capture a key Axis manufacturing base and two of its heads of state, a massed fleet of Concordiat warships arrived at the edge of the system late in the year and began a campaign towards the planet, crushing the outlying defenses and tightening a ring around the inner planets. Reaching the system core they were stopped by the combined strength of the Katasian fleets and the Jade Imperial reinforcements, which were able to stall them long enough to allow the Combined Laptev Fleets to arrive. Unable to escape, and surrounded on multiple vectors by the largest Axis fleet ever assembled, including the gigantic OSL Charon battlestation, the Concordiat forces were unable to maneuver and suffered a catastrophic defeat. Shortly after this, the American Republics defected to the Laptev Axis, pouring reinforcements into Terra and bolstering the Jade Imperial defenses, prolonging their ability to hold out against siege and weakening the Concordiat position in the system.
By this time the Concordiat and Axis were exhausted militarily and economically. Costly sieges, military occupations and naval defeats meant mounting losses for both sides, with billions of casualties incurred. A temporary truce developed into a formal ceasefire, and by the beginning of Obsidian 2458, Imperial reckoning, the two factions had agreed to peace talks.
Convinced by the opportunity to capture a key Axis manufacturing base and two of its heads of state, a massed fleet of Concordiat warships arrived at the edge of the system late in the year and began a campaign towards the planet, crushing the outlying defenses and tightening a ring around the inner planets. Reaching the system core they were stopped by the combined strength of the Katasian fleets and the Jade Imperial reinforcements, which were able to stall them long enough to allow the Combined Laptev Fleets to arrive. Unable to escape, and surrounded on multiple vectors by the largest Axis fleet ever assembled, including the gigantic OSL Charon battlestation, the Concordiat forces were unable to maneuver and suffered a catastrophic defeat. Shortly after this, the American Republics defected to the Laptev Axis, pouring reinforcements into Terra and bolstering the Jade Imperial defenses, prolonging their ability to hold out against siege and weakening the Concordiat position in the system.
By this time the Concordiat and Axis were exhausted militarily and economically. Costly sieges, military occupations and naval defeats meant mounting losses for both sides, with billions of casualties incurred. A temporary truce developed into a formal ceasefire, and by the beginning of Obsidian 2458, Imperial reckoning, the two factions had agreed to peace talks.
PEACE AND AFTERMATH
At virtual talks attended by senior commanders from across the Axis and Concordiat, a formal peace treaty was quickly drawn up, confirming that all territory should return to the status quo ante bellum. Concordiat forces withdrew from Jade Imperial territory, Axis fleets lifted their sieges, and all prisoners of war and captured materiel were returned.
The Barlat Concordiat's command structure were rocked by the defection of the American Republics and their failure to overcome the numerically inferior Laptev Axis. Internal disagreements escalated and the faction dissolved into several splinter groups that would not reform until years later. |
Although the Laptev Axis had thus indirectly achieved its primary goal of ending the threat the Concordiat posed to its geopolitical ambitions, its war fleets were severely weakened and many of its veteran officers dead, meaning that the Laptev Axis was not in a position to capitalise on the opportunity this presented. Indeed, although the Axis appeared to have a hegemony over power in the region, it was soon forced to abandon many of its more remote outposts as economic and logistical concerns demanded it concentrate on its core territories. Between the collapse of the Concordiat and the withdrawal of the Axis, many areas of space collapsed into lawless anarchy, depressing the intergalactic economy further.
Taking advantage of the situation, the Merger began to assault Axis holdings across the FB-1 region. Known as Deep Harvest, this shadow war between the Merger and the Order of the Watcher resulted in the Katasian Ryk evacuating their territories, boarding the OSL Charon and taking to the stars soon after the end of the Barlat War. By 2460AT, less than a decade after the war, the situation in FB-1 had deteriorated to the point that the surviving nations of the Axis elected to follow suit and use entropic TILT drives to transfer their key solar systems to the NS-1 region. Although many nations managed to escape the events of Deep Harvest, few have attempted to return and none have successfully reported back so far. The fate of the FB-1 region remains largely unknown, although it is assumed to be firmly under the control of beings hostile to all sentient life.
Taking advantage of the situation, the Merger began to assault Axis holdings across the FB-1 region. Known as Deep Harvest, this shadow war between the Merger and the Order of the Watcher resulted in the Katasian Ryk evacuating their territories, boarding the OSL Charon and taking to the stars soon after the end of the Barlat War. By 2460AT, less than a decade after the war, the situation in FB-1 had deteriorated to the point that the surviving nations of the Axis elected to follow suit and use entropic TILT drives to transfer their key solar systems to the NS-1 region. Although many nations managed to escape the events of Deep Harvest, few have attempted to return and none have successfully reported back so far. The fate of the FB-1 region remains largely unknown, although it is assumed to be firmly under the control of beings hostile to all sentient life.