Dloven Crusades

The Dloven Crusades was an attempt by the Dloven Empire to antihate the Grox Empire and expel them from the center of the galaxy. The monumental mission was attempted when the Dlovens achieved the height of their military might, and high on their own success, believed that they were capable of defeating the most feared race in all the galaxy. While achieving some success initially, the crusades ended in the near-complete destruction of the crusader fleet when the true might of the Grox bore down on them.

## Dloven Crusades

The Dloven Fleet engages the Grox over Klipling

## Casualties and Losses:

### Victor

55 Warships387 fighters80,000 Soldiers147 Ground vehicles

### Loser

93 Warships874 fighters150,000 Soldiers311 ground vehicles

## Background

As the Dloven Empire swelled to a massive size, where there appeared to be no other race capable of challenging them, the Dloven leadership began to look to the planet-rich galactic center. Teeming with resources, the only thing that separated the core from the rest of the galaxy was the deadliest and most powerful empire ever known: the Grox. Having long-admired and basing their philosophy of complete and utter domination on them, the Dlovens sought to overthrow the Grox. Assembling a massive fleet of 100 fully laden Warships, the Dlovens set out into the galactic core on a crusade to annihilate every single member of the cyborg race.

## Timeline

### Early Victories

As the massive crusader fleet crossed into Grox space, the Grox were complete unprepared as legions of Dlovens swooped in and easily overwhelmed the individual colonies. With any resistance being swallowed up by the massive Dloven force, the crusaders managed to capture dozens of Grox-owned planets in the first few weeks of the war, where the defenders ferociously fought until the last man standing. While taking casualties, the Dlovens nonetheless pressed deeper into Grox space, fighting large battles such as the Dandex Campaign or the Battle over Klipling.

### The Grox Strike Back

While initially overwhelmed by the sudden Dloven advance, the Grox began to regroup and started mounting more coordinated counterattacks agaisnt the crusaders. Encountering more resistance, the Dloven forces found themselves spread thin as they started struggling to protect their newly-conquered planets while still trying to slice deeper into Grox space. Despite inflicting huge casualties on the cyborg race, the Dlovens were terrified at how ferociously the defenders resisted them. As losses continued to mount, the crusader fleet had lost nearly a third of their warships, where despite the uphill battle and mounting resistance, the fleet commander was determined to achieve victory for their race.

### Defeat and Subsequent Withdrawal

As the Dlovens clung to their newly acquired systems and struggled to mount more offences to conquer new worlds, the Grox began to coordinate a massive attack to demolish the crusaders in one fell swoop. Two months since the crusades began, the remnants of the Dloven fleet encountered a massive Grox fleet of 233 warships over planet Girassamo, where the crusaders were easily overwhelmed and their ships obliterated by the dozens. With the Dloven flagship and commander trying to keep up the fight until he himself was killed, the fleet descended into chaos and the remnants fled. Usually alone and on the run in Grox space, the Dloven survivors were mercilessly hunted down.

## Aftermath

Of the 100 Dloven warships that were sent out on the crusades, a mere 7 managed to return to Dloven space, albeit, with heavy casualties. All newly-acquired planets were subsequently reconquered by the Grox. Despite the crushing defeat, the Dloven leadership downplayed the loss as a minor setback, where unbeknownst to most of the public, crusades were nothing but a mere test of the Grox's strength vs an actual attempt to destroy them. Now aware of how wide the power gap was between their two races, the Dloven leadership knew that they had ways to go before they could seriously challenge them, where they next shifted their focus to some of the new up and coming empire around them, such as the Arkoon.