Reorganisation War

The **Reorganisation War**, also known as **World War VII** or the **Seventh Great War**, was the greatest and most destructive of the six (seven in later historical records) great wars of the Sixteenth Age.

## Historiography

In earlier records, this would had been **World War VI**, but during the Reorganisation War, the wars of Red Ardesch were considered as a separate great war from the preceding campaigns of the Ardeschen Empire and Directorist Ardesch, which were regarded as the previous war.

## Course of the war

See also: The Hrelvist Era, Post-Gauvajut timeline

In the 76th century of the Sixteenth Age (73rd century of Herimann's era), the most powerful nations of the world attempted to form five powerful blocs, as they were envious of the other galactic empires out there.

Meanwhile on the continent of Palkyras, a great unease started to pervade the realms. To the north, the Rannarisk emperor Hjaldofrey attempted to mutate his people into superhumans, but because his supersoldiers were unstable and murderous, the eastern provinces rebelled. That, along with the Gylharlings' independence and isolation, split the once-dreaded empire into three. To the east, the Vozonid emperor Jadawôtriz sent envoys to the capitals of the five alliances: the horrified envoys returned with news that the five alliances were planning to create their own world empires, and seven disasters were allegedly sighted in the sky. To the south, the Auteans attempted to fortify their federation to protect themselves from the other empires, allying with the Greyfolk. And to the west, the two Vachelonian realms stopped their war after a series of plagues struck their realm.

The most notorious acts of the Reorganisation War, and the namesake of that dreadful age, were many attempts to exterminate enemies and other peoples considered "weak" or "filthy".

Near the end of the war, a meteor crashed into the capital of the Hvindari Imperium, killing its Emperor, his court, and many of his elites and superpeople. It was later plunged into chaos after a succession crisis.

The war ended with the defeat of the Six Empires, although many lives were lost to stop them from dominating Jerde. Every Terran who refused to join the victors was exiled in vast fleets. banished from Jerde and forbidden from ever returning. Among their descendants were the Plunderers, the only atheistic community in the Igarin Empire, used mostly as raiders who prepared for their war against Jerde. More Terrans were among the many human warriors of the Sixteenth Galactic Empire, hated for their exception cruelty and their deceit, fuelled by their hatred of Jerde and its people.

At the end of the war, much of the world was ruined again. Heronoja was among the survivors of the war, although it lost half of its people. To the northeast, the ancestors of Nolworra plundered many treasures from American armies stationed by the Unified Corporation and the Hvindari, including red cups from raids by earlier church militants. The red cups were later a festival symbol of the defeat of the Terrans and the survival of Jerde.

The Superhumans of the southern hemisphere swept across many lands and enslaved their inhabitants, cursing them for their responsibility for the ruin of the world. Three years later, a prophet of Odin pleaded with its rulers to stop torturing the locals, as many of them were sorry for what they had done (or what they never did); then the Superhumans abandoned their colonies and retreated back to their homelands.

In Ardesch, a land nearly exterminated by the war, the survivors were the first to bring the dead back to life by cloning them, complete with reconstructed memories and immortal youth. Tragically, these restored people found that their loved ones were older than them, and they had to watch them die while they themselves outlived them, alone and together. These immortals later swore to serve and guide the peoples of Ardesch as fellows, not as aristocrats or rulers, until they deaths would set them free from their sorrow.

## The Six Lords

There were originally five empires, but at some later time, a sixth empire was formed. These consisted of the White Imperium, the Unified Corporation, the Fourth Red Front, the Retributive Hydra, the Polytheist Justice Committee, and the Terran Defiance. They were the culmination of many centuries of ideological indoctrination, galactic ambition, and hatred between the peoples of Jerde and the Terrans.

A sixth faction, the Terran Defiance, was formed by thousands of surviving Terrans at the southern part of the continent of Darros. Their goal was the total conquest of all of Jerde, but with the embittered Terrans as the autocrats and aristocracy of the world, enslaving the Jerdiskar who hated and persecuted them over the centuries.

### Hvindari Imperium

The Hvindari Imperium consisted of several empires, such as on northern Ardesch, who sought to slaughter all other peoples and replace the world with their kind. Even the fascist Rannarisk, now divided into several tyrannies, were also considered targets simply because the WI wanted power.

### Unified Corporation

The Unified Corporation believed that Jerde would be better off if it became a world corporation, later a spacefaring power.

### Fourth Red Front

The Fourth Red Front believed that the time was right to unify all of Jerde into a single communist state, which would then either become a global commune or a spacefaring paradise. They also made it a goal to slaughter their past enemies to frighten the world into obeying them.

### Retributive Hydra

The Retributive Hydra consisted of various groups in eastern Randros and western Laros who believed that they should put every other race in their place as frightened, obedient vassals. They had an extreme hatred of anyone who was White or had light skin (associating them with their arch-enemy, the White Imperium), and anyone who was Norse (for being similar to Rannar).

### Terran Defiance

The Terran Defiance was an empire formed later in southern Darros. Its people consisted mostly of fanatical, hateful Terrans who wanted to enslave the Jerdiskar for tormenting them over the past centuries, following the dreaded principle of "the wounded tiger": true justice, to them, was only achieved when their tormentors will be utterly slain.

## The Free Peoples

The enemies of the Reorganisation War were the Free Peoples, various nations that formed leagues to resist the Six Empires.

### First Vozonid Empire

The First Vozonid Empire faced its greatest challenge: survive the Six Empires' brutality.

### Auteri

The Auteri were a Kekhaulid federation to the far south of Palkyras.

### Vaulontirs

The Vaulontirs were the free Norsefolk to the east of Rannar. They and the Heronoi are the closest of allies, almost like brothers.

The Nolworrans were among their descendants.

### Heronoi

The kingdom of Heraunwoja (Heronoja) was founded by an alien king, Heros, as a refuge for his people. It also recruited Norse and Rakolan revolts into its ranks, where they enjoyed freedom from the Rannarisk tyrants.

This alien kingdom was offered a chance to join the White Imperium because all of its alien people were blonde and blue-eyed, the ideal of that empire. When Heraunwoja rejected and insisted in being independent, the Hvindari Imperium joined the Rannariskar Norse in waging a war of extermination against the Heronoi.

The communists joined in after they were also refused, seeking to bind the Heronoi and force them to convert to Terran communism. Afterwards, the Hvindari-Norse armies and the communists slaughtered each other, ending their threat to the alien nation.

### Rubaschrand

The Republic of Rubaschrand was one of the few nations that allowed Terrans to coexist and have basic rights, so many Terrans there fought against their corrupted brethren. The exiled Terrans denounced the Terrans of Rubaschrand as "traitors" who stopped their attempts to impose their utopias, and swore everlasting vengeance and hatred against them.

### Zarijana

Zarijana, one of the few monotheist nations tolerated by the Denlotia and even admitted as one of its most technologically-advanced members, fought hard against the Six Powers. It was one of the few countries to survive intact, using its machinery to aid the Free Peoples' rebuilding.

### Empire of Iozae

This age-old empire managed to resist various tyrants, from the Tuksharans to the Terrans, though it cost it much of its former colonies and many lives. It sided with the Free Peoples to avoid being totally destroyed by the vengeful Terrans.

## List of peoples targeted by the Six Powers

* Vaulontirs
* First Vozonid Empire
* Auteri
* Rannariskar - simply to claim its armies and fortresses, accelerating the world empire
* Southlanders - for opposing the Hvindari
* Heronoi - simply because they were aliens, and for rejecting the Hvindari and communists.
* Rubaschrandir - for hosting Terran opponents of their empires, and later hated by the Terrans as traitors against global supremacy
* Zarijanians - for resisting the Terrans even though they were also monotheists
* Iozaeans - for age-old resistance against the Terrans
* Just about *anybody*, seen as nothing more than prey and slaves.

## Minor factions

### The Superhuman Coalition

The Superhuman Coalition was a league of islands and city-states formed by mutants, immortals, and the occasional mages. It was divided between the Supreme Harmony Coalition in the west, and the Concentrated Devotees of the east. The SHC sought to dominate all of humanity, while the CD made alliances with several neutral countries.

This faction survived the Reorganisation War by its heavy defences and lack of involvement, so when the Six Powers destroyed each other and the world, the southerly superhumans conquered many lands, enslaving many survivors as a punishment for their recklessness. Only by the intervention of a self-proclaimed prophet of Odin did the SHC, and later the CD, end the enslavement and humiliation of mundane people. He was very sad that his civilisation became just like the Six Empires in approaching their level of cruelty and hatred.

## Trivia

* The Reorganisation War was influenced by the author's observations of various extremists, and what would have happened if they had enough power to destroy the world and slaughter as much of their enemies as they wanted.
* In 2023, the author changed "White Imperium" to "Hvindari".
* The defeat of a Terran invasion of Nolworra led to the use of red cups to celebrate in winter festivals.