Space Race

The Space Race, also referred to as the Lunar Crisis, was a conflict between various nations of Rathnir over the militarization of space. It began in , when Tyo'on'tyo, representing the Huitca Federation, announced plans to launch a rocket in order to blow up the moon. The conflict resulted in the awakening of Entropy in Rathnir and marked the starting point of an international conflict resulting in her destruction.
== Background ==
The rocket named after the Founder of Tlahatl was built by Toronto Dougwald of the Huitca Federation with the goal of blowing up the moon. On an evening in , Dougwald received word from the city of Farafin that his friend, Tlatoani Infinick, started acting unusual, muttering about Ghosts of Warriors and a "Noble Conquest." Upon hearing this, Dougwald rushed to Tlahatl to aid his friend. By the time he got there, Infinick's mental state had completely deteriorated and Ticitl P'hila, Infinick's personal physician and spiritual guide, announced that he was slowly going insane.
Upset and knowing that he could not help his friend, Dougwald returned to Zoquiyo where he proceeded to meditate and take walks among the Wilderness to clear his mind. While wandering through the remains of his ancestral hometown of Bradecblight, he asked the Gods what he could do to help his friend. Subsequently, the sand in front of him was blown away and revealed a cave that emitted a glowing light, Dougwald ventured inside and upon arriving at the bottom, he fell into a ruined library, in the center of which he found a mysterious looking book on a pedestal. Inside the book was an ancient recipe for a Hiarllii dish called Gilamer Nayd'ek&f, which roughly translates to "Moon Cheese Soup". The book told the story of a meteorite that hit the Zoquiyo region thousands of years ago, claiming that the meteorite was filled with Lunar Cheese and another mysterious material known as Briqasterank, roughly translating to "Burning Sun Mineral." The Hiarllii people, Doughwald's ancestors, believed this Lunar Cheese to have magical healing properties and the new mineral to have the ability to produce tremendous amounts of energy. He took the book and traveled back over to Farafin in an attempt to make the soup. However, according to the book, the Lunar Cheese Ingredient he needed was no long around due to overused by the Hiarllii.
Failing to produce a cure for Infinick, Dougwald fell into a state of depression. During this time, Dougwald conversed with Rex Fernand, a leader of the Huitca Imperium that Dougwald claimed to be "reborn into the head of Dougwald" but may also have been the symptom of a split personality disorder. Fernand eventually talked Dougwald into working again, and to continue improving his town. During a midnight stroll in , Dougwald concluded that the Lunar Cheese could likely be found on Rathnir's moon due to its name. With the help of GLIMO, a robot he build during his depressed state, he scavenged all of northern Huitca in search of the Briqasterank. He sought to harness its energy to power a way onto the moon. One morning in , Doughwald discovered a small quantity of Briqasterank, which the locals referred to as to as Sneedistanium and Caliginium, in an underwater cave off the southern coast of the Tsar's Folly Peninsula. GLIMO and himself spent the rest of the day mining for the material. Later that day, while Dougwald was back in Farafin experimenting with this new rock, the town of Regnum notified him of a series of attacks. Angered by the attempt to take advantage of Infinick's weak state, Doughwald vowed to save Infinick with his lunar mission.
In , Dougwald returned to Tlahatl to check on Infinick. While he was unsure whether Infinick could hear him clearly, he told him about his plan to bring back Lunar Cheese from the moon. Infinick started muttering to Dougwald about the "Noble Conquest" and told him to blow up the moon to get all of its "Healing Cheese." Despite Spacebeing J and Ticitl P'hila's attempts to convince Dougwald that this was a horrible idea, Dougwald stayed adamant in wanting to blow up the moon, aiming to make the alleged healing properties of Lunar Cheese available to all and prove the capabilities of the Federation.
That night, in his apartment in Tlahatl, Dougwald claimed to have experienced two seperate visions: one from the Bradecarashirist god Dadrikra and Calibrius, and the other from Entropy. He proclaimed that Dadrikra and Calibrius showed him the design for the Sneedistanium engine, allowing the rocket function, while Entropy showed him the design for a "Cylidrical Vehicle" with the capabilities of reaching the stars. Dougwald called that vehicle the "Flying Boat." The next morning, he rushed back to Farafin to begin construction. From Spring to , Dougwald and GLIMO started the construction on the rocket. During this time, Dougwald discovered the ability to harness just a fraction of the power of Sneedistanium, which was enough to power his rocket for up to 22 days in space, with extra power left over to destroy the moon and fragment it into pieces that could fall towards Rathnir. He named the rocket "The Founder", after the founding story of Tlahatl. The rocket's original scheduled launch time turned out to be filled with unfavorable weather which led to a three hour delay. After the weather passed, The Founder was successfully launched into space and began to fly in the sky of Rathnir in order to build up enough energy to reach the moon.
== Foreign responses ==
Tea Othin stole Dougwald's blueprints as well as small amounts of Sneedistanium and quietly distributed them to multiple nations across Rathnir, beginning the Space Race. In , Toronto Dougwald announced that the rocket had built up enough energy and was set to arrive at the moon between and .
Less than two hours after the launch of The Founder, Sareariel Lelya-Earcala, the Velereth of Aurlûnor, issued a condemnation. The Celestial Elves were outraged by the fact that the Huitcans were attempting to destroy a body in the sky that they considered their sacred goddess. Borders between the Huitca Federation and the Sun Dragon Empire were closed, furthering tension between the two countries. 
Seven hours after the launch, the Fluito-Shanian Federation and Uldarash announced that they were building a rocket of their own. Rather than try to reach the moon, this rocket was instead intended to prevent The Founder from destroying the moon, presumably by crashing into it. This announcement was the first recorded use of the term "Space Race" to describe the ongoing situation.
== Destruction of the moon ==
In , roughly 16 years prior to the launch of The Founder, Rick Harrison threw a coin into the Pit of Gruh. The very same coin reappeared in space, striking the side of The Founder and sparking speculation that the mystical pit was a wormhole through space and time. The impact resulted in a hydrogen leak and the subsequent explosion of the rocket.
While some initially rejoiced, believing the Moon to be saved, it quickly turned out to be too early for celebration. Debris from The Founder had exploded in all directions. Some of the debris flew onward to the moon at an even faster speed than before, while other chunks crashed onto Rathnir. Despite the best efforts of Fluito-Shania and Uldarash, all debris continued on their course and crashed into the moon and Rathnir unimpeded. In , Dougwald launced a second rocket, named "The Founder 2", in order to guarantee the destruction of the moon. When announcing the launch, Dougwald claimed this new rocket to be "traveling at nearly twice the speed of the Founder" while also being "blast proof" and able to "teleport on occasion." Shortly after the announcement of the launch, attempts by Fluito-Shania and Uldarash to intercept the course of the rocket failed.
On , a small red dot and multiple fractures were observed in the moon over Rathnir. Shortly afterwards, all of Rathnir experienced a red substance alleged to be blood raining down from the sky. While Dougwald claimed that his rocket successfully hit the moon, it remains uncertain as to whether this phenomenon was caused by the impact of the second rocket or the debris from the the original Founder, which was destroyed by Rick's coin. Members of the Red Cult believed the "blood of the moon" to be a divine sign from the Blood God, calling the Rathniri people to convert and citing a mysterious unmarked book written to the Traveler's Era.
== Aftermath ==
Shortly after the impact of the asteroids, Ticitl P’hila, speaking on the behalf of Huitca, declared the lunar mission as it not only failed to destroy the moon, but also caused unintended global unrest. P’hila claimed that Huitca "believed that blowing up the moon would not have any consequences" and blamed manipulation by Entropy as the cause of the mission. Furthermore, P’hila apparently confirmed concerns about the mental health of Dougwald, stating that he "complained about hearing ghosts where there should be none, and yelled and screamed and code switched."
In , it was announced that Donklas Tise, the Count of Remtal, committed suicide by jumping off a rampart, into the sea after being distraught with the state of the moon. His body was never recovered. The Rathnir Gladiatorial Council decided to postpone the Gladiatorial Games from to in reaction to the global events.
Overall, public opinion of The Founder's launch and subsequent destruction of the moon was primarily negative, with both Dougwald and Huitca receiving serious amounts of criticism. Despite Ticitl P’hila urging that "the Huitca Space Agency is going to immediately begin looking into solutions for the moon crisis," several nations and private individuals declared war and launched raids against Huitca. This resulted in the near total destruction of Regnum and severe damage to the Huitcan infrastructure.
While the fracture and apparent bleeding of the moon subsided and did not result in any severe lasting consequences to Rathnir's flora, fauna or geography, it awakened Entropy and allowed her to gain a corporeal form. In , Quauhtli Tizoc, the son of Dougwald, was elected Cihuacoatl of Huitca. Shortly after taking office, he issued an official statement in which he apologized for the fracture of the moon on behalf of the Huitca Federation and reasserted the claim that manipulation by Entropy set off the space race and its consequences. He likewise denouced the action of Dougwald and his newly founded nation, calling a world leader summit in Tlahatl "to mend these wounds and hopefully move forward and work together."
He also passed legislation outlawing Entropy worship and exiled Dougwald for continuing to spread and practice his believe in . This resulted in the creation and rapid expansion of Entropa by Dougwald, marking the starting point of the Entropy crusades and accelerating the conflict between Entropy and Athaz.
Category:Entropy
Category:Hiarlliia
Category:History
Category:Space
Category:Tlahatl
Category:Traveler's Era