Stardancers - A Federations AAR

[Specialist290]

The Golden Monetary Pact goes to war once again. The Rothakans are known as a formidable foe already, but hopefully the Yldars have made the best of their opportunity to rebuild and consolidate their gains in the meantime.

Also glad to see that the Bothrians finally got a somewhat happy ending after all

 

[Cromwell]

Yet another war, will the free traders be able to achieve a more lasting peace this time or will we see more intergalactic chaos? Then again if there is profit to be made in war who wants peace?

I'm looking forwards to reading the appendix on the more ancient mysterious people's of the galaxy. That should be fun.

 

[Duke Earl]

Originators

Every Sci-fi Series has them,extinct Ailens who brought us everything: Star Wars has the Rakkata, Halo has the Forerunners and Babylon 5 has the first ones. these guys seem like a very interesting addition

 

[Nikolai]

And so it is war, again. Better be value for the merchant princes, no?

 

[Qorten]

Concerning your aversion against planetary colonisation, certainly only the Yldars feel that way about planets. There's no one holding back the other races making up the Yldar empire from settling on one of their liking?

Looking forward to another war against the Rothak. Do I assume correctly that their mutual defense partner will also join against you? If so I think this might be the most difficult war you'll face in a long time. Win this one though, and you are set for greatness.

 

[Vilhelm]

Every Sci-fi Series has them,extinct Ailens who brought us everything: Star Wars has the Rakkata, Halo has the Forerunners and Babylon 5 has the first ones. these guys seem like a very interesting addition

Don't forget the many ancient empires in Star Trek: the Iconians, Tkon, the First Humanoids...

 

[stnylan]

It is too late now to turn back for the course. The Compact ... well there are obligations. Would one now truly wish to be free of them?

The inexorable balance sheet though shows that conflict with the Rothak is but a certainty. Best prosecute with friends than be friendless and alone.

 

[Viden]

Wars grow bigger as the Galactic Community does little to stop them. Classic.

 

[CrazyJ]

loving this so far. an excellent AAR

 

[RossN]

The Battle of Zif, Sixmonth 2316.
​

Part Fourteen: The Great Interstellar War - the Early Phase (2309 to 2320)

Corporal Campramara gave a hiss of exertion as she climbed over the rocky shoreline. The form fitting combat suit and visor-helm she wore supposedly kept the Yldar soldier free from what her combat sensors told her was a sweltering day on Shi'Pator but even Yldar technology had its limits against the ever present tropical downpours that seemed to be a feature of this planet.

Had she been alone she might even have considered removing the helmet - the atmosphere was breathable and she trusted her eyes and sense of smell far better than a cramped cage of metal and plastic. However she didn't want to distract the soldiers with her. Like everyone who joined the War Guilds they were 'planetary conditioned' via extensive training but they were still green and many would still be coming to terms with things like clouds, insects and the sounds of wild animals. Camparamara rather liked the purring sound of the golden furred avian like creatures that flitted through the treetops but then she had been here for a month. In another month she'd probably even like her designated rations.

'Right, intel says the enemy are over there,' she said to the younger soldier who had accompanied her, gesturing inland to the dense green haze of the treeline. 'Maybe four klicks with a nova cannon emplacement.'

The soldier blinked his purple eyes at her. 'A nova cannon...? Since when do the Rothakans make those? Or did they loot one of ours?'

'No, they bought it before the war, much better than the junk they manufacture,' Campramara explained. She smiled ruefully; 'sometimes we're too clever for our own good. Alright you vipers, let's move three!'

~~~

The central star sytems of the Rothak Fire Tribes, 2310.
​

The Great Interstellar War (also known as the Northern War, the Eighteen Years War and the Second Golden Monetary Compact-Rothak Fire Tribes War) that erupted in 2309 was the largest galactic conflict yet known. On the one side stood the forces of the Golden Monetary Compact; the Yldar Free Traders, the Centralized Kammarian Systems and the Zelvan Interplanetary Empire. On the other side were the Rothak Fire Tribes and their allies the Irenic Kazam Compact. Many historians also assign the Rothak-Uindar War that ran during this period under the umbrella of the greater war. Fully a third of the galaxy would be drawn into the combat.

The instigators of the war were the Zelvans, looking to regain territory and prestige lost to the Rothakans in their own private war earlier in the decade. The gnome-like Zelvans were not known for forgetting grudges and they immediately launched an invasion of Rothak space while the reptilians were preoccupied crushing the Uindars. Unfortunately this left the Zelvans southern flank exposed to the Kazams who had mobilised their own forces to come to the rescue of their allies.

The Kazams were something of a mystery to the greater galaxy. Though clearly not an ancient, high technology race like the Domanna Ancients or the Lilarobius Watchers the mammalian Kazams had originated on a ringworld of unknown age and design, a feat of engineering beyond almost anything else known in the cosmos. The Kazams were isolationist and at least historically pacifist but they had tied their star to the Fire Tribes, seeing in them a strong force for stability in interstellar affairs and certainly as a preferable neighbour to the xenophobic Zelvans or Uindars. The Kazam state was untested military power but, but a wealthy, populous and scientifically one too. The Zelvans would have their hands full trying to hold off these forces while pursuing their aims in the west.

For the Yldars and the Kammarians the early days of the war conjured memories of the last clash with the Rothakans. Raids on border systems led to the capture of fringe outposts like Salluria, easily taken by the Kammarian Imperial Fleet in late 2309. The enemy put up stronger resistance at Holdebaana, the same system that had seen so much conflict in the last war against the Rothakans. It was a Yldar victory but here the enemy bastion and two Pob'Onor-class cruisers cost the Yldars the destroyer YSS Nehdaban the Holy and the frigate YSS Nimpac the Obsever. The loss of the former was regrettable but the latter, one of the 'twins' that had been inherited from the Kobarians was irreplaceable. Instead her position in the battle line would be filled by a Daskall-class destroyer.

Nimpac's destruction with the loss of over six hundred of her eight hundred strong crew left the Yldar Star Navy reconsidering the 'Salvaged Fleet'. In the 2270s the Kobarian warships had been the most advanced and powerful craft available to either side. More than three decades later and that gap had faded away. Some aspects of the reclaimed vessels remained arcane technology such as their superior sensors and regenerative hulls but in weaponry, armour and engines they had begun to slip behind Yldar designs. The Nimpac was scarcely more powerful than a new Daskall-class destroyer and even the venerable and battle scarred cruiser Limpok the Baneful, once the pride and terror of civilised space was showing her age. When Kesh na-Solpan had lived the wily old Kobarian warlord had been able to make disparate elements work. Without him Yldar commanders found themselves struggling to fit the ungainly frequently slow relics into their battle plans. In early 2315 after the Battle of Uril the decision was finally made to withdraw the Kobarian ships from front line service and return them to Oros as a reserve.

By this point in the war the early strategy of pinpoint strikes against lonely outposts had given way to something far more ambitious. In late 2310 the Uindars had sued for peace in their private war against the Rothakans and besides the arrival of a stream of Uindar refugees in Yldar space this meant the Rothak fleet was finally freed up to turn east or west. If the Rothak warmachine turned east they and their Kazam colleagues would crush the Zelvans between them.The supreme commander of the Yldar Navy, the ageing Glost-Weherni Admiral Mak B'Scul threw caution to the wind and mounted a grand Yldar-Kammarian offensive into Rothak space.

The Golden Monetary Pact had little history of such war. The Kammarians were inexperienced at large scale clashes having lived under a planetary monarchy for generations while the Yldars lacked a standing army altogether. The Yldar did possess an existing Star Marine Corps under the overall command of the Navy. These troopers had seen much action in the previous wars and would see even more in this one but by their very nature and training they were useless for ground warfare. In order to bring the war to the enemy worlds the Yldar turned an all but extinct tradition.

The Yldar War Guilds in orbit around Shi'Pator, Sixthmonth 2311.
​

The 'War Guilds' had historically been bands of professional mercenaries and adventurers who had served the various merchant princes. In their heyday during the late Twentieth and early to mid Twenty First centuries they had numbered in the millions, profitably employed in the wars between the Three Daughters. After the unification of all three habitats in the Oros into something approaching a national government the War Guilds had fallen into decline, with talent siphoned off to the Patrol and later the Star Marines. A few surviving companies had continued the legacy as glorified bodyguards but they had dwindled into significance by the time the Great Interstellar War erupted. It took the vision of a minor merchant prince to see ahead of time that the government would need hundreds of thousands if not millions of infantry. Indeed he saw it before the Chairwoman did, taking a gamble and hiring as many Yldars with planetary experience as possible. It made him a fortune and once the government began seeking contracts there was a flood of applicants to the previously moribund War Guilds.

Small arms training and bravery were a common enough skillset among the staunchly independent traders but the War Guilds required a much rarer mindset. Most Yldars found the idea of setting foot on a non-artificial planet deeply traumatic. This was not a problem limited to 'biological' Yldars; many of the myriad races that made up the populations of the habitats had absorbed similar feelings. A Kammarian hatched on Pirgak's Freehold might look identical to his distant cousin on Kamdor but he probably thought quite differently. As rapidly as the War Guilds recruited they restricted their membership to those who could stand the mental and physical strain of combat and prolonged exposure to an alien atmosphere. Some were so young they'd never even moulted their first adult scales, others were seasoned bodyguards, bounty hunters and other veterans. All had the same unusual mentality.

Many of the arms and personal body armour used by the Star Marines were also happily adopted by the War Guilds but planetary combat called for heavier gear - artillery, ground attack vehicles, atmospheric attack craft and the like. Even with records available from other cultures it was a hard learning curve as seen in the Battle for Shi'Pator waged over the course of three months in 2311. Shi'Pator was a lush tropical world in the Rimdur system, directly east of Holdebaana. Though ruled by the Rothakans the actual population was largely lithoid Glirrs who had emigrated into Rothak space [1]. Against the x-ray lasers and sonic weaponry of the Yldars (the latter impractical for space warfare but effective in atmosphere) the Rothak-led Glirr defence forces dug in deep among the sweltering jungle dominated low lands and cooler but equally green high lands of the planet's densely inhabited western continent.

The Yldar War Guilds in operation on Shi'Pator were led by General Hannakon, a wily soldier and adventurer whose strategic genius was second only to his ability to sniff out profit. Despite heavy casualties among his soldiers he orchestrated the capture of the enemy world - and others in the years ahead. Hannakon, a lean and dark gray scaled male from Irjamma's Treasure made great use amphibious attack craft in the shallow seas of Shi'Pator, out manoeuvring the Glirr fortifications rather than committing to direct and bloody frutal assaults. Even so it was a bloody struggle before the enemy surrendered and the First War Guild was so badly mauled it would have to be restarted from scratch before new invasions took place.

A long range sensor scan of the Rothak battlefleet in the Atmir system, 2312.
​

As important as the planetary battles were the war could only be won or lost in space. Originally the Yldars had kept to the same three fleet structure that had served them in previous wars but with the from 2315 on they relied on combined 'grand fleet' in a tactic borrowed from the enemy. The same reorganisation that saw the Kobarian ships removed from the front lines saw a great force of some seventy warships under the flag of Admiral Rhass. This young male officer, not to be confused with the long dead corrupt administrator of the same name, had been captain of the destroyer Pandack the Wise early in the war. Distinguishing himself for his command of logistics he had been promoted to Vice Admiral at the age of thirty five and with the retirement of Admiral Mak B'Scul due to sheer old age and the death of the septuagenarian Admiral Ralpakin at the beginning of 2316 Rhass found himself effectively running the war.

Admiral Rhass was not the brash gambler that might have been expected from so rapid a rise. He was exceptionally intelligent but his mind was cautious and subtle. Even before his final promotion he had been involved in the conglomeration of the disparate fleets into one greatly enlarged 'Suthnar's Armada'. Most Naval officers - most Yldars - would have sooner pulled out their own tongue rather than deal with the logistical mess involved but Rhass excelled in this area. When he resumed the offensive in early 2316 he had taken every precaution to make sure his vessels were in trim condition, their weapons, engines and shielding enhanced by the strategic use of volatile motes. It was the best prepared and most powerful Yldar force yet assembled.

At the Battle of Zif in Sixthmonth 2316 the Yldar and Rothak fleets had their first full scale clash. The Rothakans were past masters of the 'grand fleet' concept and they had also focused far more extensively on large warships than their opponents with eleven cruisers against four for the Yldar Star Navy [2]. The Yldars had the edge on corvettes and the forces were roughly balanced with destroyers. However if the numbers of vessels were close the technology wasn't. The Rothak Pob'Onor-class cruisers were rugged and impressive ships but their weaponry of choice were archaic coilguns and first generation disruptors. Rhass's ships with their railguns, x-ray lasers, plasma accelerator and ion disruptors shredded through their counterparts. The Yldars lost three destroyers and two corvettes while the retreating Rothakans left behind the mangled wreckage of three cruisers, seven destroyers and eight corvettes.

The Yldars would see more victories through the following years as they pushed across Rothak space to reach the old Zelvan borders where their allies had been in increasingly desperate straights. Here they would find themselves facing Kazam warships, with results similar to those at Zif. None of these battles were bloodless for the victors and a steady stream of freshly built corvettes and destroyers were sent east to replace lost ships in 'Suthnar's Armada' but Rhass always inflicted far worse losses on the Rothakans and the Kazams. By 2320 the war was decisively going the way of the Golden Monetary Pact but the fighting was far from done. There was already talk in some circles that in order to force a peace the Yldars would have to invade the Rothak homeworld itself...

During the war several Yldars had reported unusual mental 'peculiarities'. A 2318 study suggested that though rare and poorly understood these peculiarities were very real.
​

There was one final unexpected turn in this phase of the war, though it was not courtesy of the enemy, at least not directly. The war had mobilised the Yldar populace on a scale never before seen. Sailors, marines and soldiers had all begun to report certain... peculiarities. Particularly lucky guesses, certain dreams that almost seemed to be coming true and other even less understood phenomenon. A study in 2318 of military personal who reported these oddities concluded that in a small percentage of the population the unthinkable strain of the war had unlocked something not quite understood. The numbers were thought to be low and proper research would have to wait but somehow something had changed.


Footnotes:

[1] The Glirrs - charismatic, two meter tall, five eyed, six legged vaguely 'crustacean' looking beings made of silicon - were by this point the most numerous sapient life form in the galaxy. Their great advantage was that as lithoids they could very comfortably live almost anywhere and not just the arctic wastes of their native planet and as their government enjoyed close relations with most of the other galactic powers they migrated freely.

[2] In 2316 plans were drawn up by the YSN for a scaled up warship, a 'battleship'. One of these mighty vessels would be completed before the end of the war but not soon enough to see service.

 

[RossN]

The Golden Monetary Pact goes to war once again. The Rothakans are known as a formidable foe already, but hopefully the Yldars have made the best of their opportunity to rebuild and consolidate their gains in the meantime.

Also glad to see that the Bothrians finally got a somewhat happy ending after all

Yes I was happy to see the Bothrians were saved.

Yet another war, will the free traders be able to achieve a more lasting peace this time or will we see more intergalactic chaos? Then again if there is profit to be made in war who wants peace?

I'm looking forwards to reading the appendix on the more ancient mysterious people's of the galaxy. That should be fun.

Unfortunately the galaxy continues to be a messy place so peace might be some time in coming!

The next update will see the second half of the war, with the next appendix probably coming soon after.

Every Sci-fi Series has them,extinct Ailens who brought us everything: Star Wars has the Rakkata, Halo has the Forerunners and Babylon 5 has the first ones. these guys seem like a very interesting addition

Very true. One of the things I love about Stellaris is that even if your civilisation is young the galaxy itself feels old and full of history.

And so it is war, again. Better be value for the merchant princes, no?

Heh, hopefully!

Concerning your aversion against planetary colonisation, certainly only the Yldars feel that way about planets. There's no one holding back the other races making up the Yldar empire from settling on one of their liking?

Looking forward to another war against the Rothak. Do I assume correctly that their mutual defense partner will also join against you? If so I think this might be the most difficult war you'll face in a long time. Win this one though, and you are set for greatness.

That's a fair point and certainly something I can consider. I suppose I just like the idea that the Yldar culture has rubbed off on the many different species living in the Free Traders space.

And yes the Kazams joined the war against me. Not only was this war long it was intense!

Don't forget the many ancient empires in Star Trek: the Iconians, Tkon, the First Humanoids...

Very true!

It is too late now to turn back for the course. The Compact ... well there are obligations. Would one now truly wish to be free of them?

The inexorable balance sheet though shows that conflict with the Rothak is but a certainty. Best prosecute with friends than be friendless and alone.

That's a very apt point. If nothing else opening the borders is itself a significant goal.

Wars grow bigger as the Galactic Community does little to stop them. Classic.

Heh, cynical but true!

loving this so far. an excellent AAR

Thank you very much, that is very kind!

 

[CrazyJ]

Mght i make a recommendation? look into some form of crisis upgrade mod.whenever someone does an aar it almost always ends one of two ways. they steamroll the crisis and its really anticlimactic. or they pretend to be having a much tougher time than they are to drag out the story. with the way the crisis works at the moment those really are the only option unless you get mods to make the crisis less of a paper tiger.

it's your aar and i'm sure it'll be awesome no matter how it ends. these are just my two cents on how to make the end a bit more exciting.

 

[Specialist290]

The Yldars and their allies have been doing well so far, but it sounds like there's yet another grueling planetary campaign ahead of them before the end. Hopefully the War Guilds have been able to apply the lessons learned in the bloody struggle for Shi'Pator; an attack on the enemy's homeworld will almost certainly be a brutal slog even with the benefit of experience.

Of course, this newfound awakening could also make a useful force multiplier if the Yldars can find a way to deploy some "special talents" alongside the main fighting force.

 

[Qorten]

Nice going so far. Lucky for you your enemies are either far behind in tech, or their AI is too dumb to upgrade it's ships. You would have been in real trouble then. Now comes the long and tedious occupation campaign to get the Rothak to the peace table, while not getting surprised by the Kazam. Looking forward to part 2!

 

[stnylan]

One has to put in the hard graft to get the job done.

It appears though this communal effort has an unanticipated consequences ... one wonders what might come of it for the Yldar.

 

[DensleyBlair]

Finally found a bit of time to plug away at a couple more updates and, predictably, this continues to be really excellent @RossN! Just finished the update with the Pseudo-Yldars, and between that and the ancient lost species who killed themselves en masse I am enjoying the fact that this AAR seems to be developing a sort of philosophical side narrative about cosmology and one's place in the universe. Genuinely captivating stuff.

 

[Nikolai]

So as the war trots on, peculiar things happen in Yldar space. The gods, divine or not, are visiting.

 

[volksmarschall]

Nothing is as majestic as a fleet readied for battle, or engaged in battle!

 

[Viden]

Going for the psychic path? Curious being materialist.

 

[RossN]

'Suthnar's Armada' blockading the planet Rothak, mid-2325.

​

Part Fifteen: The Great Interstellar War - the Late Phase (2320 to 2327)

At first glance from orbit in daylight Rothak was all one vast blur of white. Ice covered mountains, frozen seas, empty and pristine.

Only closer in did you appreciate the multihued nature of the place. The glow of cities in the vast underground caverns the Rothakans called home. The pale pastels of the sky in day or at dusk or dawn. The ruby bauble that was the planet's lone moon. The dark waters visible beneath the thawed pack ice in the equtorial band. And the ice itself - not just white but green and blue and yellow in different places and different times. There was a beauty to this world, holo-operator Limathar thought. Then the Yldar blinked and took a hurried step back from the guard rail on the iceskimmer.

A long reptilian snout broke through the thin layer of sea ice and nostrils flecked in the open air. Limathar caught sight of a long toothy maw and plate sized yellow eyes regarding him - and the Yldar iceskimmer with an emotionless, brainless curiosity and hunger. Then it was gone, the five tons of marine reptile plunging back into the frigid depths. Limatar allowed himself the opportunity to breath again - softly.

Beautiful but dangerous, and not just from the Rothakans shooting at them. How could anyone live on a non-artificial planet and stay sane?

~~~~~

Under the strain of the war the traditional stern state atheist of the Zelvans began to weaken as laws against religious organisations and practices were dropped.
​

The Zelvans had not enjoyed a good war. Though they had achieved some success against the thinly defended Rothak systems on their western frontier, they themselves were almost overrun by the Kazams and only the efforts of the Yldar Navy restored the territorial integrity of the Interplanentary Empire. Perhaps this miraculous salvation from all but certain doom played a role in the popular shift on Zelvikanna. For centuries the Zelvan monarchy had discouraged all forms of 'superstition' as a distraction from service and duty to the imperial family and the state. In 2322 that attitude of stern materialism, long flaking away crumbled altogether as the Emperor announced new acts reversing all forms of discrimination against religion and other forms of overt spirituality.

Naturally the Zelvan embrace of spirituality provoked a stir among the Yldar Free Traders with even the least-religious Yldars seeing it as a move away from traditional Zelvan arrogance and chauvinism. Such a wave of affection for the newest members of the Golden Monetary Compact could not have come at a better time as by 2322 the Yldars were growing exhausted by the war. As much as the fighting was going their way it came at a grim cost. Casualties on ground campaigns ran into the hundreds of thousands and twenty five Yldar warships were lost to battle in the first decade of the war more than in every other war combined since the invention of the hyperdrive [1].

There had always been a streak of ruthlessness to the Yldars, a love of a cunning and confident strike against one's enemies whether in business or in life generally. Even in the Twenty Fourth Century merchant shipping carried weaponry just in case a rival merchant might try a little buccaneering. With the creation of the YSN that regard for the clever and capable star captain had transferred easily to the officers of corvettes and destroyers. The sheer grind of the fighting had worn away at this sentiment and increasingly the government was looking to end the war quickly. The Rothakans and the Kazams were on the retreat but they still possessed sizeable naval assets more than capable of disrupting Compact supply lines.

The Navy, wary of the new found importance of the War Guilds insisted that victory could only come through space combat. The losses they had already taken meant that the great shipyards at Oros and Kenn Hijal were kept busy simply replacing ships. Nevertheless Admiral Mak B'Scul, now retired from the field to oversee logistics and design back authorised construction of a battleship more powerful than any known conventional design. It was not a choice that met with universal support in the Navy. The divide between those who wanted more small ships and those who backed fewer larger vessels remained sharp with each side drawing on the 'proof' they needed from the war. The destroyer partisans claimed their favoured ships had been in the thick of the fight while the cruiser advocates claimed that their big ships had been vital to keep off the enemy cruisers. That the destroyers had suffered so heavy a casualty rate was itself a weapon to be wielded in this clash - either it spoke of the vulnerability of destroyers or how vital they were if they would see action again and again.

Even the cruiser advocates grumbled at the construction of the YSS Yndan the Strong the first of the mile long Mohl-Vikh-class Battleships. Cruisers, by their very nature were intended to be all purpose ships (they had originally been intended as operating alone or in small squadrons). Battleships had one purpose - to hit very hard - and they were too slow and expensive to be used in any other context. The armament of the proposed vessel changed time again as the designers argued over how she should fight. The standard weapons of the Yldar warships were x-ray lasers, plasma accelerator and ion disruptors but the venerable railguns still found their place, for their lack of expense in nothing else. The launch date was continuously pushed back with last minute changes which included granting the design strike craft capability and by the end of the war the battleship had yet to fire a shot in anger.

A design schematic for the Mohl-Vikh-class Battleship, of which one was built before the end of the war.
​

Whether or not she actually fought the battleship enthusiasts in the Navy insisted that Yndan the Strong was a vital psychological weapon. The Rothakans and Kazams simply had nothing that could stand against such a vessel.Therefore every credit spent on her was worth far more than the equivalent spent on destroyers or cruisers.

While (most) of the Navy saw continuous service during this period the War Guilds needed longer to recover between planetary invasions. Every planet was different, with even theoretically similar biospheres having endless variations on scents, sounds and textures. This might have seemed obvious to a planetbound species but to the habitat dwelling Yldars it came as a revelation. Back home each habitat contained differences in architecture and wider differences in culture. A native of Khebb's Domain (the youngest habitat) might have vividly different expressions and tastes in clothing and cuisine than his counterpart in Oros. But none of these differences matched the feel of going from one alien world to next. Four moons or none. Diminutive, teal coloured forests were the 'trees' reached one's chin or vast savannas of pale red grasses taller than an adult Yldar. Even without the fighting it was disorientating.

The key to the conflict as was becoming increasingly clear was the planet Rothak herself. Located in the Vsem-Klack system Rothak was the third planet out from a yellow-orange sun. By Yldar standards it was an icy and inhospitable planet, home to vast glaciers and icesheets covering deep and dark seas. The Rothakans themselves had evolved from marine reptiles and some of their huge non-sapient cousins still prowled the frigid waves. Yet despite the temperatures and the predatory fauna Rothak was no death world but the civilised capital of a starfaring empire, home to great cities glimmering against the backdrop of the blue-white ice. The Rothakans would fight tooth and nail to defend their capital planet.

The Rothak counteroffensive is halted at the Battle of Fuye, Fifthmonth 2323.
​

In Firstmonth 2325 the Yldars made their move. Admiral Rhass and the ships of 'Suthnar's Armada' dropped out of hyperspace - and directly into a barrage of enemy fire. The Rothakans were far from stupid and had been able to see the build up of the enemy fleet in the Cyban system. They had tried to stem the Yldar Navy at the Battles of Fuye (2323) and Ugarasti (2324) and though they inflicted severe casualties on the Yldars this counteroffensive had failed. At the Battle of Vsem-Klack they stubbornly held on, looking to pull off a miracle. Rhass's crews were bone weary, his fleet well below peak strength and for a few hours it seemed as if the Yldars might have to retreat. It was not so. Agonisingly slowly the superior numbers and technology of the Yldars told and finally the surviving Rothakan ships flickered out, their engines making emergency jumps to hyperspace. It was yet another hard fought victory that had cost Rhass another four destroyers and five corvettes (one of the bloodiest naval battles of the entire war) but he was in control of the system.

While Admiral Rhass was trying to coordinate the war from the bridge of the cruiser YSS Goron the Sagacious he was also in constant contact with events back Oros. On the fourteenth day of Secondmonth 2325 Chairwoman Haghonona had suddenly died at the age of seventy seven. In the emergency election that followed Rhass's name was suggested by some of the merchant princes impressed by his capability in the war and popularity with the civilians. Ultimately though the votes would go to for Elemano, a tall and saturnine male from Khebb's Domain who had represented the Free Traders in the Golden Monetary Compact for many years. The good Admiral was perhaps a little too well regarded for the public as the members of the Board zealously guarded their own power against any over-mighty head of state.

Elemano was not a dynamic figure but he did enjoy good relations with both the Kammarians and the Zelvans. It was thanks to his influence that the invasion of Rothak became a joint effort, shared between the Yldar War Guilds and the Kammarian Imperial Army [2]. The overall command was under General Hannakon and the crafty Yldar leader wielded his forces with skill and diplomacy. At the start of Ninthmonth the Compact soldiers invaded in good order, landing across the face of the great southern ice sheet and rapidly capturing enemy industrial sites. Brutal lessons learned in the sweltering jungles of Shi'Pator and the cruel mountains of Xandebaan II had left the Yldar and Kammarian soldiers with experience with their weapons and their tactics.

Despite every disadvantage the Rothkans resisted to the hilt, driven by a mixture of patriotism and religious fervour. Cleverly, Hannakon had feinted attacks towards the Crystal Altars of Y'kan, one of the holiest sites on the entire world. In truth the Yldar general had no intention of seriously attacking the famed cavern-monastery but he knew that the Rothakans would pour every available resource into holding what seemed to be a target. In fact the Yldars and Kammarians resisted the temptation to attack any cultural or spiritual centres. This was not entirely out sympathy for the enemy, rather it was the pragmatic view that they would fight all the harder.

In three months and at heavy cost the Compact forces overran the major population centres of Rothak and the Aseembly of Clans were forced to surrender. The war proper would drag on for another year and a half with one final space battle at Jasmak in 2326 where Rhass defeated the last Rothak fleet, at the cost of another six warships. It was only in Fifthmonth 2327 that the last Rothak holdouts finally capitulated and the war was officially over.

At the peace table the Zelvans recovered most of their lost territory from the Rothakans and, despite the advice of the Yldars and Kammarians, insisted on occupying the capital of the Fire Tribes indefinitely. This act left a bad taste in the mouths of many in the Free Traders. It was good to see the powerful Fire Tribes humbled but the Rothakans had fought a clean war and won the considerable respect of many Yldars. In some ways they were seen as more admirable than the Zelvans themselves. Enemies though they were at least the Rothakans had fought with courage and discipline. The immediate aftermath of the war saw a wave of Rothak refugees arrive in Free Trader space, driven off world by their new overlords. Both Admiral Rhass and General Hannakon spoke persuasively and successfully for the recent enemy to be granted sanctuary among the habitats.

The arrival of Rothak refugees in Yldar space provoked a wave of ill-feeling - against the Zelvans.
​

Zelvan policy may have won them few friends among their allies in the Golden Monetary Compact but neither the Yldar Board nor the Kammarian Emperor could stomach a breach with their allies and an official silence prevailed on Zelvan harshness in the conquered territories. Instead the governments focused on the relief that the war was over. Here at least Chairman Elemano and the merchant princes knew the public was with them. By the most conservative estimates the war had cost the Yldars over a million casualties. The drain on resources had been formidable with vital alloys and other materials funneled away from civilian construction and towards the Navy and the War Guilds, leaving the habitats increasingly cramped and rundown. Most humiliatingly the Kobarians had seized on the distraction offered by the war and successfully extorted several bulk freighters full of minerals. With the fleet halfway across the galaxy there had been nothing to stop the marauders bullying their way into profit.

The war had brought some compensations. The Fire Tribes had been shattered likely for good leaving the eastern frontier of Yldar space secure. The Kazams as part of the peace had opened up their borders to trade and the Yldar Star Navy was now the most powerful fleet in space [3]. These fruits might have been slim rewards for the war but the traditional Yldar way was to scent out profit and opportunity even in the most dismal circumstances.

The known galaxy at the end of 2327 after the Treaty of Rothak.​

Footnotes:

[1] The Kobarian frigate Nimpac the Obsever, ten destroyers and fourteen corvettes. These figures only cover ships entirely lost, with many 'surviving' ships taking heavy damage and severe casualties. Italso does not cover losses sustained in the last seven years of the war.

[2] Though this was the first joint operation the Kammarians had fought an honourable and important if unflashy campaign during the war, tying up Rothak and Kazam forces that otherwise might have overwhelmed the Yldar Navy.

[3] Excluding the battlefleets of the so-called Fallen Empires or the disparate warhosts of the marauders at least.