Template:Better Conflict InfoboxThe Noble Crisis was a period of political and social revolution in and around the Local Group culminating in the exile of over fifty Noble Houses to the Fireworks Galaxy and the extermination of over seventy-five. It concluded in 55031 CE after the revolution lost public support for their brutal methods, allowing for the remaining Noble houses and the government of the Confederacy of Borealis to try the most radical of the revolutionaries.
The Crisis did not begin all at once, it started mostly peacefully in 54871 when various species in the Local Group began protesting Human dominance of the government, Noble houses, and the military. This movement, even though entirely peaceful, was oppressed violently. Most participants were arrested, the net scrubbed clean of their activity, and news companies (all controlled by the Nobility) would cherry-pick footage portraying the protesters as rioters or revolutionaries. Information spread quickly underground, however, and it eventually did become a violent revolution when the people realized just how much of society was controlled by these Nobles.
The stock market collapsed to historic lows after word of an actual revolution reached the Houses, causing mass unemployment. Now, mass unemployment did not mean starvation, this was a post-scarcity civilization after all, it meant boredom. Entertainment costs money, and even implants had a monthly fee associated with them. The isolated revolutions soon became widespread social unrest.
It was in 55001 when the Jezreel Slaughter, the mass execution of a noble family by revolutionaries, signalled the height of the revolution. All over the Milky Way similar events took place. The remaining Noble Families secured paramilitary groups to defend themselves as they fled the Confederacy. Other houses, like the Takanashi Family, hid within fortified Star Clusters, not allowing anyone in or out.
Even though the most violent of the revolutionaries ended up executed, their revolution was by no means a failure. Most of the largest corporations became owned and operated by a diverse set of species, the government rolled back many regulations which gave the largest corporations advantages, and more stringent anti-monopoly and anti-oligopoly laws were put in place.
Background
Human Aggression
Humans as a species have always been relatively aggressive and motivated compared to the average species. Most species just as aggressive ended up destroying themselves with Nuclear Wars or similar, thus putting humans at the higher end of the spectrum. Thus, they began expanding from their home world fairly quickly. Their competitive nature had them colonize the stars mostly privately, another somewhat rare attribute.
They went on to be the founding species of the Confederacy, NTIH, and many of The Lewis Nations, putting them as one of the most numerous species in the known universe. Even the economic systems dominant in these nations, capitalism, was a human invention. This put any species that were unable to function in a capitalist system at a major disadvantage.
Human Corporations
In the space of a dozen millennia, humans came to dominant the Milky Way. Older and less aggressive species suddenly found themselves part of a human-designed government and in a market where humans had a large head start. Many detractors of the way things were called the fledgling nation the "Confederacy of Humanity."
Not only did these corporations have large control over the market, but they had large influence over the government. Lobbying and special interest groups struck down anti-monopoly laws, funded campaigns for those friendly to their interests, and bought out news networks to make sure the people never even knew this was happening. The top millionth of a percent grew so wealthy that individuals in this percentile had more power than entire species and civilizations. With wealth came elitism, and not only among the ultra-wealthy. Many humans, as members of the wealthiest and most influential species came to look down on aliens. Darwinist attitudes took hold with many viewing the aliens simply as "less fit for modern society."
This elitism, combined with large-scale corruption and having truly ludicrous amounts of money manifested itself in the resurrection of a long-dead social class, the Nobility.
The Nobility
The majority shareholders and board members of the largest corporations soon began acting like nobility long before they were officially so. Genetic engineering allowed for the Noble class to never need to "taint" themselves with the genes of outsiders, fostering more elitism.
The first organization to call itself "nobility" was the House Oberon in 44367, followed closely by the Noumi Family and later the Takanashi Family. At this time, several alien families and houses managed to organize themselves into official noble organizations as well. These, of course, were used by the humans as a way to claim that "anyone could do it." However, they were mostly minor and none existed within the Milky Way.
Trigger
The original peaceful protests, starting in 54871, called for equality, more representation of aliens in the government, and other simple things which would lessen the "Human Privilege" in the Confederacy. While at first isolated to mostly alien worlds, they soon spread to hundreds of worlds, with many humans joining them.
After a year of their cries for equality falling on deaf ears, one group tried to storm a corporate headquarters on Alsen. The protesters failed, however, this was just the excuse the Nobility needed to manipulate politicians into keeping the protesters down. All at once, coverage of the protests stopped, information about them disappeared from search engines, and social media censored anything to do with them.
This was very successful at first, all until an underground network, called The Workers' Struggle came into prominence in 55899. It was quickly made illegal by the corrupt politicians, but this did little to stop the network from spreading information about the extreme levels of corruption in the government. This year is the most cited year for when the Nobility began losing their tight control on the populace.
Revolution
This underground network emboldened all that participated in it. Causing the once peaceful demonstrations to turn into boycotts. The boycotts soon became armed resistance. The rebels mostly got their arms from defectors from the military of the CoB as well as many defectors from paramilitaries controlled by the Nobility.
At first, the protesters looted businesses and destroyed property. Many individuals ran on promises to end the banning of "The Workers' Struggle" and other underground networks, making many win on the local level. These made planetary governors turn a blind eye to the violent acts of the revolutionaries, causing many to be even more emboldened.
It was at this point that vigilantes would start murdering nobles, more powerful politicians sympathetic to the cause would forcibly disband some of the Noble organizations, and many of the officers in the military would disobey orders to put down protests. The Nobles' grasp on society became completely undone in 55001.
The Jezreel Slaughter
Shrill screams reverberated across the square. Soldiers at the edge of the square stared in shock and bewilderment, having received orders from their superior not to intervene. The mostly non-human crowd ate up the speaker's words about "Freedom" and "Equality." On the stage next to him were several armed guards holding railguns to the heads of several dozen once high-ranking nobles. Even as they plead in their strange language, the guards stood still, facing the crowd. The speaker came to kneel next to the nearest of the ex-nobles. "This one may look harmless, but they'll grow up to be just as wicked as their parents." Out of nowhere, the crying human's life came to an end. The speaker held their head by those strange filaments of protein they called "Hair." The rest of the body lay slumped over on the ground. "This my friends, may seem barbaric, but this is necessary! We need to fill them with fear! We need..." The crowd's cheers of approval grew louder than the speaker. No one could hear his words as chants of "Get the rest!" filled the air. The silent railguns did just that, wiping the Jezreel Family line from existence. From the back of the crowd, the relative few humans involved watched in horror. Killing some random alien was easy, but killing a member of your own species was another thing entirely.