Arkoon-Splorshno War

The Splorshno Fleet over Hiftavor

## Results:

Arkoon Victory

233 Ground Troops

3000+ Ground Troops

The Arkoon-Splorshno was a major interplanetary conflict between the Arkoon Empire and the Splorshno Empire. Lasting for only a few months in 12 CE, the war contributed to the rise of the Arkoons as a major galactic power, while leading to the downfall of the Splorshno

## Background

Quickly advancing from civilization stage, the Splorshno soon realized that they weren’t alone in the universe. After learning of the Grox, who stood as a symbol of absolute power over the galaxy, the Splorshnos sought to obtain such power and fearsome reputation. They immediately took an aggressive stance against all their nearby galactic neighbors, where the Arkoon ended up being their first stop on their supposed road to galactic conquest.

In early 12 CE, the Splorshno empire launched unprovoked attacks on several low-populated Arkoon colonies, which shocked the Arkoons and other nearby civilizations.

## Timeline

### Battle of Worchex

Planet Worchex, a T1 planet that was home to a small Arkoon yellow spice mining operation, was approached by 3 Sporshno warships from orbit. An Arkoon cruiser was sent to investigate, only for the three Splorshno ships to begin attacking it while they landed forces onto the planet. The Arkoon cruiser managed to take out two of the Splorshno vessels during the engagement before being destroyed themselves.

On the ground, Captain Garrow arrived after being summoned by the colony’s governor. After crossing a bridge over a river near the settlement, Garrow discovered an entire army of Splorshno soldiers about to march across the river. Garrow tried to reason with the aliens, but when they demanded immediate surrender, the Arkoon captain returned to the governor for further orders. As the army began to pour into the colony, the governor asked Garrow to head south to find an old Arkoon Naval vessel, where the captain succeeded in alerting the ship’s helmsman.

The Arkoon battleship then sailed up the river and began to shell the Splorshno ground forces as they marched over the bridge, causing huge casualties to the lightly-armed aliens. Garrow then entered the fray and annihilated the Splorshno vanguard, before he was forced to join the other Arkoon in retreat.

The battle proved to be a pyrrhic victory for the Splorshno empire, as while they succeeded in taking the planet, Worchex was of little strategic significance and on top of that, they suffered heavy casualties compared to the minimum experienced by the Arkoon, despite their vastly superior numbers.

### Invasion of Dwinfle 8

The Splorshno next set their sights on the icy T1 world of Dwinfle 8, which was home to an Arkoon spice-manufacturing operation and a small village. The Splorshno invasion fleet found little resistance from orbit and quickly landed troops, overwhelming the village and killing the small armed garrison. The surviving civilians were rounded up and placed in a POW camp to await transportation to labor camps on the Splorshno homeworld.

The Arkoon Empire, still figuring out their plan of action for the war, dispatched Garrow in the meantime on a spec-ops mission to free the prisoners. Arriving on Dwinfle 8, Garrow managed to fight his way through the Splorshno defenders and succeeded in crushing the garrison that was guarding the POW camp. With the freed civilians in tow, Garrow managed to avoid the Splorshno gunships and evacuate everyone with an old teleporter to a safe planet.

Again, Dwinfle 8 offered little strategic importance to the Splorshno, and while losses were low in the initial invasion, Garrow managed to single handedly cause significant damage to the established garrison.

### The Slaughter of Hiftavor

The Splorshno armada penetrated deeper into Arkoon territory, arriving at the T0, lava-covered planet of Hiftavor, which was home to an Arkoon thermal energy plant. In an act of horrific war crime, the Splorshno fleet bombarded the planet from orbit and destroyed a lava dam, flooding the Arkoon colony with lava and killing all the inhabitants. A complete and absolute victory for the Splorshno, the incident enraged the Arkoon back home and the causing the military to swell and Arkoon to join up in huge numbers

### The Battle of Histovanort

The enraged Arkoon fleet of 16 cruisers shocked the Splorshno as they met the 17-strong fleet over Worchex. In a massive, 1-sided battle, the Arkoon ships obliterated 15 of the Splorshno warships while losing only 1 of their own, the victory owning to the vast superiority of the Arkoon Starfighters. The Arkoon ground troops easily liberated Worchex and then Dwinfle 8 shortly after, where the fleet was then ordered to steam ahead directly to the Splorshno homeworld of Histovanort

The Slorshno were horrified as the 15-strong Arkoon fleet easily took down their 2 remaining warships, where they then landed a massive landing force led by Captain Garrow to take the planet. Garrow led and assault up a beach near the Splorshno capitol city, where he and his troops decimated the numerically superior Splorshno artillery. Garrow furthered limited friendly casualties and snuck into a Splorshno military base, destroying the infantry fighting vehicles there before they could even launch. Garrow would then fight ahead of his troops and destroy a bomber base as well as several munitions plants.

As the Splorshno forces were utterly overwhelmed, Garrow snuck aboard the very last enemy warship and destroyed it from the inside, taking out what was largely left of the Splorshno forces. The Splorshno empire quickly signed a peace treaty with the Arkoon government to save his people from being obliterated by orbital bombardment

## Aftermath

The war effectively halted the Splorshno’s growth as an empire, where their economy was in ruins following their crushing defeat. Due to their poor conduct in the early phases of the war, the Arkoon public was hungry for blood, and the government placed strict restrictions on Histovanort in the terms of the peace treaty. The Splorshno military was only allowed a fleet of no more than 3 warships. On top of that, they were not allowed to have colonies more than 1 parsec from their home system, which basically limited them to just having a moon base around the gas giant in their solar system. This hindered them for years to come as their dreams of conquering the stars faded into a mere struggle to survive.

The Arkoon side, on the otherhand, received galactic-wide renown for their flawless military strategy and how fast they bounced back after their first defeats. They were approached by the Zostrudon for an alliance, where they worked together to defend the galaxy from other species with goals like the Splorshno