Tyran War

The Tyran War, also known as the Outer Colonial War of Independence, Freedom War, and Tyran-Federation Conflict, was a large-scale war spanning the territory of the Tyran Empire starting between 6 and 4 BC and ending in 9 AC. Prior to the galaxy-spanning War of the Broken Bow, the Tyran War was possibly the largest conflict in the recent history of the Vernarca Nebula. The war was also of drastic historical importance, serving as both the beginning of the end of the Tyran Empire and the impetus for the formation of the Vernarcan Federation and the international Yazera Pact alliance.

Background

The Tyran War had a truly epic scale, spanning hundreds of star systems within the Vernarca Nebula, but it also had an annoyingly nebulous beginning. Scholars of the early Federation period ascribe start dates for the Tyran War ranging over over three years from 4-6 BC, but the first signs of the coming conflict were as early as the first month of 9 BC with the rise of the various rebel cells across imperial space.

God-Emperor Shahso and Internal Developments

General Shahso took power over the Tyran Empire in 34 AC through the use of a neutronic bomb wiping out much of the peace-favoring faction of politicians in an unprecedented coup-de-tat. After this event, Shahso installed himself as the first God-Emperor of the Tyran Empire. A strong and politically savvy leader, at least at first, Shahso quickly established a bureaucracy under his absolute control, through which he would expand the empire to new heights of interstellar oppression.

His first act after attaining control of the imperial government was one of the most massive atrocities committed in recorded history, the elaborately orchestrated genocide of the Enolians. His theft of the Losekran Morphogenic Virus from a vault on Teralla led to its proliferation across Canamar and other Enolian colony worlds, wiping out the vast majority of the species and closing those worlds to the survivors forever.

After the Enolians were gone, their cities and colonies would be repopulated by the Tarasze, but here Shahso made his first big mistake: he began to treat those far from the "homeworld" as lesser than those who lived upon its surface. In part this was pragmatic, as he could keep a closer eye on the inhabitants of Tarash than those of far-flung colonies and thus felt safer allowing them greater expression. But tyranny is an unnatural force, and the increasing oppression of the outer colonies began to foster dissension, arguably sealing the fate of the Empire right then and there.

Falacian Developments

Meanwhile, the constant disputes between the Tyran Empire and the Falacian Dominion were within a hair of erupting into war during this era. Of particular note is the region of space surrounding the Haras and Varaltin-Zartha systems, which straddled the internationally accepted border. Both nations wanted the entirety of this region, but neither of them was able to hold the internal stability required to focus on such a drawn-out campaign against an equally matched foe.

The Falacian populace also held support for the rebelling peoples of the outer Tyran colonies. Prior to the ascension of Emperor Genore, it was considered to be a political suicide move to actually lend aid, but the government was always looking for an excuse to lay down a beating on their old enemy.

Timeline

The war's nebulous early years have frustrated scholars since the moment the war left the current events section. At the time, few beyond the empire acknowledged it as a war until the introduction of international interests at the Battle of Vistari. Certainly none within its borders publicly saw it that way, as the rebel groups were obviously nothing more than upstarts to be crushed. But later reinterpretations by historians have revised the war's true start date to somewhere between 4 and 6 BC with the first declarations of independence.

Marakat and Varaltin-Zartha Independence Movements

The beginnings of what would become the Tyran War were as early as 9 BC with the organization of the Enolian Freedom Coalition and the first activities of rebel cells at Kaidras. At first, the EFC didn't even advocate for independence – merely the reestablishment of the people's natural rights – but they soon realized that petitioning a mad emperor is an exercise in futility and changed tack.

The Kaidras cells initially maid themselves known through navigational sabotage aboard Tyran warships stationed in the area, in one case resulting in the ship warping directly into a Limit Cloud military base in a way that looked just like a simple error. The EFC was much more public, protesting the destruction of the Enolian species 25 years prior and distributing mass amounts of informational pamphlets. While doing this, they also enacted sabotage operations across their "territory", most notably resulting in a spate of power core breaches aboard military craft and the destruction of administrative buildings.

By 7 BC, armed insurgencies were in full swing throughout the outskirts of the Tyran Empire. From Varaltin-Zartha to Inielus, rebel groups were coalescing and being surprisingly effective against the rigid and lumbering operations of the Tyran military. An argument could be made that the war began here, but the hundreds of groups lacked any form of organization or alliance and so scholars agree otherwise.

The War Begins

On 21.6, 6 BC, the state of Marakat declared independence from the Tyran Empire, marking the earliest accepted beginning of the Tyran War. The rebel cells there staged mass mutinies aboard several Tyran warships, setting up the new nation with proper warships with which to defend itself from a counterattack. Less than a month later, the Federate of Varaltin-Zartha also established itself in the immediate vicinity of the Varaltin-Zartha System on the far edge of the Empire.

The varoius succession movements would have foundered quite quickly on their own, but the simultaneous nature of the insurgencies prevented the Tyran fist from coming down on any one of them without allowing the others to explode out of control. Thus splitting the attention of Shahso's new war fleet, the rebellions spread like wildfire across the empire.

Raga Massacre

Found at the edge of the Parallelogram Cluster, the black widow pulsar Raga was the site of numerous resource extraction and habitation structures, and constantly under the watchful eye of the Emperor's secret police due to its strategic importance. Noting the rising rebel activity elsewhere in the empire, the local governor Oshu established an ultimatum: Any damage to Tyran installations would be answered ten-fold among the local populace.

Hours later, a fatal error in the navigation program of the Arishem caused it to collide with its flight group partner Hajis. While this time was actually innocent error as the rebellion had not spread to this region, governor Oshu immediately blamed it on "rebel groups" and ordered the destruction of much of the Widarla L2 habitat cluster. Antimatter warheads detonated aboard dozens of habitats, killing millions and leaving many more trapped in an impassable area of space surrounded by debris. The capital station of Si Nal was boarded and its population randomly decimated as a show of Tyran military superiority.

Hoping to punish the nonexistent local rebels into submission, this severe miscalculation on the part of Oshu galvanized the local populace and led them to begin open rebellion in what would become Voyorras. Shahso personally executed him for his failure, but the damage was long since done. From this point, the cry of freedom was ringing in the air across the Tyran Empire, and none could stop it.

Enolian Freedom Movement

First Battle of Canamar

International Scheming

Teralla Prime

Operation Shadow Hand

The War Goes International

Battle of Vistari

The Yazera Pact

Battle of Kerillis

Sack of Filikar

The Tide Turns

First Battle of Zartha

Second Battle of Zartha

Orel Engagement

Second Battle of Canamar

Battle of Inielus

Bakino Campaign

De-Escalation

Shahso's Death

Collapse of Order

The Rubber-Stamp Armistice

Aftermath

Fragmentation of the Empire

Project Egress

The Oathbreaker War