First Novean War

The First Novean War (also abbreviated as NW I) was one of the most significant conflicts of Ceal, and quite possible the single most defining event in the History of Ceal. It marked the end of the Golden Age of Iserialogy, the birth of the Novean Species, as well as the beginning of a new time reckoning. It was caused by the Advent of Nova, and soon escalated into a conflict that almost wiped out all civilization on Ceal. Lasting several years, NW I was divided into three distinct phases, each named after the primary locations on which they took place: The Feeran Phase, the Ringworld Phase, and the Ceal Phase. It is the subject of the Advent War Chronicle.

## Preface

Prior to the First Novean War, civilization was at an all-time high on Ceal. Feera hat been settled and become an independent nation by the name of Feeheira, and Ringworld had been completed, settled and also gained independence as the Ilyfkilo Commonwealth. However, as the world of Ceal was approaching an Iserial Calm, Iserial Energy was becoming more and more sparse, and tensions were on the rise. Historians agree that even without the Advent of Nova, the Golden Age of Iserialogy would soon have been declared officially over. An important factor for the early course of the war was also the fact that Feeheira had for some time promoted a separatist and isolationist course, distancing themselves from Ceal and Ringworld.

## Feeran Phase

The first sign of the Advent of Nova was the appearance of a brilliant and previously uncharted mysterious golden comet in the sky. This caused speculation, and even gave rise to a number of cults, especially on Feera, who worshipped the comet as a goddess. One of these cults - which formed around a Dragon of the Ilyfra-Clan who claimed to have flown all the way to the golden comet and received a divine revelation - was able to attract a particularly large number of followers, who became known as the Novean Adventists. It soon became apparent that this cult was more than a passing craze, and as the comet stayed in the sky for far longer than it had any right to by any natural means, the cult gathered more and more followers. In addition, the cult turned out to be unusually well organized, as well as particularly lucky, as if guided by a higher power.

Eventually, the Novean Adventists staged an uprising, aiming to overthrow the Feeheiran government and claim all of Feera in the name of her Goddess, whom they had come to worship under the name of Nova Klifareta. Again, this coup turned out to be remarkably well-organized and was incredibly successful at first, especially due to the fact that some Novean Adventists were exhibiting uncanny powers, which are now known to have been the first well-documented usages of Minayero on Ceal.

The uprising was eventually suppressed by the efforts of a few distinguished individuals who managed to defeat the leader of the Novean Adventists. However, as it turned out, that was only the beginning of the war. With his dying breath, the leader of the Novean Adventists called upon his Goddess to come and smite the heretics, and as if in answer to his call, the golden comet began to approach Feera at an alarming rate.

Measures were made to ward it off, and the population in the immediate vicinity of the estimated point of impact was evacuated to other regions of Feera. However, the comet effortlessly tore through any Iserial Barriers erected to stop or slow it down, and also defied any attempts to alter its course. To make things worse this was also when the first Angels started swarming out from the comet, keeping the Feeheiran defence force busy trying to protect the civilians. Furthermore, it was observed that any individual that got too close to the comet was either killed by Minayero, or turned against his or her own people in one way or another. To make matters worse, cultists of the Novean Adventists who had gone into hiding now re-emerged and once again instigated their plans to claim Feera in the name of the Goddess Nova.

The final part of this phase of NW I happened when the Goddess Nova finally revealed herself. The golden comet did not, as initially anticipated, crash into Feera, but instead slowed down and materialized into the Goddess herself. Declaring that she would be taking over Feera, welcoming all who would join here, and destroying all who opposed, Nova then summoned the first greater Angels, which featured Divine Protection. Against such foes, the Feeheiran defence force had no recourse, and soon the complete evacuation of Feera was decided on and initiated. It was only at this point that the Feeheiran government finally swallowed its pride and asked for help from the nations of Ceal and the Ilyfkilo Commonwealth.

It was at this point that aforementioned distinguished individuals made one final attempt to turn the war around, or at the very least buy some time for the evacuation of Ceal. However, even their combined power proved to be no match against one of the Angels with Divine Protection, and it was only due to the valiant sacrifice of one of them - who used Minayero in order to break through the Angel's divine protection - that they were able to prevail. However, the battle for Feera was lost. Even so, the majority of the population was successfully evacuated to Ringworld and Ceal, and the amount of people who chose to join the Novean Adventists was surprisingly small.

## Ringworld Phase

A relatively quiet period followed the evacuation of Feera, during which the refugees from Feeheira tried to make new homes mostly on Ringworld, but also on the surface of Ceal itself. The nations of Ceal and Ringworld were of considerably divided opinion regarding the refugees, and while some readily welcomed the refugees, others were determined to keep them out at all costs. The latter factions gained additional support as Novean Adventists - who had posed as harmless refugees - started to stir up trouble all over Ringworld, as well as on parts of Ceal.

Meanwhile, the Goddess Nova was busy giving birth and raising the first generation of Novean Species on Feera. Using Minayero to speed up their development and imprinting them with a basic set of memories and personalities, the first stock of Nova's own personal species was ready before long. By this time, Ringworld was already being scouted by lesser Angels looking for good places to establish a foothold. The Ilyfkilo Commonwealth was mobilizing its defences and preparing for the worst, and also requisitioned aid from the nations of Ceal. However, since relations between the nations of Ceal and the Ilyfkilo Commonwealth had also been strenuous at best, only very little support was given to Ilyfkilo, as most of the Nations of Ceal preferred to focus on their own defences.

Before long, Nova began "field testing" the Novean Species on Ringworld, staging multiple well-planned operations simultaneously across Ringworld's extensive perimeter. Once again, a number of distinguished individuals played a key role in warding off these preliminary attacks. However, the unrest caused by this enabled the Novean Adventists to seize control of an entire sector of Ringworld with the support of a greater Angel under the lead of Bianca Anylekari, a wind-affine Sprite, and one of Nova's firstborn.

From then on, the battle for Ringworld went downhill fast. With the support of quasi-invincible greater Angels, the Ilyfkilo Commonwealth was rapidly losing ground. However, in an unexpected turn of events, one of Nova's seven Archangels, a Seraph by the name of Lucifer, betrayed Nova in favour of the people of Ilyfkilo. Disagreeing with Nova's brutal but effective methods, he bestowed upon the people of Ilyfkilo the secret of making Godslayers - weapons capable of utilizing Minayero and thus breaking through the greater Angels' Divine Protection. However, this production process came at a terribly price: The life of whoever was involved in the production of a Godslayer was forfeit due to the fact that Minayero was involved. Even so, a number of brave volunteers were willing to lay down their lives in order to produce a limited number of single-use Godslayers.

The Goddess Nova, furious by this betrayal, terminated Lucifer's entire caste as a result of this, bringing down the number of extant Seraph castes from the original seven to the six remaining today. As the war progressed, she also spared no effort to capture and execute Lucifer in the most forbidding way possible, making an example out of him to serve as a warning to all those who would cross her. This, however, played out to the advantage of the Ilyfkilo Commonwealth since in her rage, Nova made a number of tactically unsound decisions that resulted in her losing a great amount of territory on Ringworld. It also served as great propaganda material for the governments of Ceal and Ilyfkilo to turn the people against Nova by depicting her as a cruel Goddess of Destruction.

As a result, the Novean Adventists started to rapidly lose followers. Meanwhile, the people of Ilyfkilo were on their best course to recapture the entirety of Ringworld. Seeing herself losing on all fronts, the Goddess Nova decided to take drastic measures and took to the field herself. This at first turned the tide, but in an epic battle, she was eventually wounded through the use of a massive Godslayer weapon that had just been finished construction on Ringworld. Enraged by the fact that the Ilyfkilans had actually managed to wound her, Nova decided to destroy all of Ringworld in retaliation. Retreating to a location in the sky near Skytower Fleto, Nova unleashed an attack of cataclysmic proportions that cut not only through Skytower Fleto, but rent the very foundations of the world itself, thus causing the localized permanent distortion that would become known as Sky's Tear. Also, her attack somehow corrupted the Creatanium forming the essential core of Ringworld's structural integrity, causing Ringworld to be completely torn asunder by the physical strains exerted on it in a matter of only days.

This caused the greatest amount of civilian casualties which the war had known until then. Though frantic evacuation attempts were made, there were simply not enough capacities to get all of Ilyfkilo's population to safety in the few days it took for Ringworld to completely disintegrate. At the very end, people attempted to leap all the way down to Ceal from the geostationary orbit that Ringworld occupied, and a few particularity skilled individuals actually managed to succeed in this desperate final attempt, and gained a sad sort of fame as the few surviving "Skydivers".

The majority of the fragments of Ringworld either flew off into space or remained in a relatively stable orbit around Ceal, that would eventually condense into a ring system that should become known as the Ring Ruins. However, a considerable number of fragments still rained down on Ceal, and while the majority evaporated in the atmosphere, a number of larger fragments, as well as pieces of Creatanium that had not ended up being corrupted by Minayero, impacted on Ceal, causing widespread destruction.

Meanwhile, Nova retreated to Feera, where she rallied her forces for the subsequent invasion of Ceal. She had succeeded in destroying the primary Godslayer production facilities on Ringworld, as well as the giant Godslayer that had lead to her actually taking damage. However, she was only too aware of the fact that the knowledge of Godslayer production had most likely survived, and that the people of Ceal were even now beginning production of more Godslayers.

## Ceal Phase

After the fall of Ringworld, some time passed, during which the nations of Ceal rallied their forces and began with the production of Godslayers, anticipating the inevitable attack of Nova. However, when the attack did not come as swiftly as expected, some nations began to drop their guard, while others started making plans for a counterattack. Optimistic people even suggested that the wound struck to Nova by the massive Godslayer of Ilyfkilo, combined with the exertion that destroying Ringworld must have caused to her, might have been sufficient to drive her off altogether.

Eventually, a counter-offensive was staged by the Republic of Cetara, and a massive fleet of spacefaring vessels equipped with Godslayers made their way to Feera. There, they met surprisingly little resistance, with Nova's forces relying on defensive stalling tactics. Eventually, the Cetaran army managed to to make their way to the dark side of Feera, where Nova's palace of Minayeiranro was located. Approaching Minayeiranro, the Cetaran Army was met with progressively stronger resistance, and their advance soon came to an almost complete halt as a considerable number of greater Angels put a strain on the Cetarans' limited number of Godslayers. Nonetheless, this was seen by many as a sure sign that Nova was indeed weakened and presently recovering in Minayeiranro, and that this was the chance to finish her off for good.

However, one of above mentioned distinguished individuals - who having become war heroes by then had joined the invasion of Feera - started to suspect that this was all a ruse to draw the Cetaran army away from Ceal and keep them busy on Feera while Nova commenced the invasion of Ceal. Due to a communications jammer employed by Nova on Feera, communications with Ceal had gradually gotten more difficult the closer to Minayeiranro the Cetaran Army had gotten, until they had eventually cut off altogether. However, the prevalent opinion of the commanders of the Cetaran Army was that they could not stop this close to their goal, and that once they defeated Nova, the war would be over.

Meanwhile, the war heroes were kept busy at the front lines, and seeing as how they were effectively indispensable faced with the increased resistance the Cetaran Army was facing, saw no other alternative than to end the invasion quickly. Betting entirely on their guess that Nova was not actually present in Minayeiranro, they infiltrated the palace and managed to destroy the Focus Crystal of the Iserial communications jammer. As expected, Nova had never been present within Minayeiranro at all, and it had instead been one of her Generals who had commanded the Novean forces that had stalled the Cetaran Army all this time.

As the war heroes had feared, Nova's assault on Ceal had begun some time after the Cetaran army had progressed well onto the dark side of Feera, and were cut off from communications with Ceal. Nova had taken the bulk of her forces on a very roundabout route to the far side of Ceal, going great lengths to ensure that her forces were not spotted. She hid her army within the newly formed Ring Ruins until the Cetaran Army was disconnected from Ceal, and then descended onto the now relatively defenceless world.

Avoiding the Kingdom of Phryconia and the Domain of Ninanjiro - both of which still had their own armies in place - Nova launched coordinated attacks on the parts of Cetara located on the continents of Pelagia, Rida, Zelsia, as well as the Jel-Archipelago. Using Clyainlero as her base of operations, Nova's conquest was swift, effective and merciless. Meanwhile, smaller units were dispatched to Ventana and Eknaria in order to keep Ninanjiro and Phryconia occupied with the defence of their own territories and population.

This marked the beginning of the second great civilian massacre in the First Novean War. Still furious about the way the people of Ceal had humiliated her by actually inflicting a wound on her, Nova and her forces took no prisoners, killing all who stood in their way. This ruthless violence, however, should once again play out against Nova, as more and more of the Novean Species - who had until then firmly stood behind Nova as their creator - began to second-guess the need for this much violence. Naturally, no one dared openly defy the Goddess, but the seeds of doubt were spreading, and every now and then, handfuls of Noveans absconded, taking refuge in remote locations and keeping to themselves, not daring to try and desert to the Original Species, fearing to be seen as monsters and killed on sight.

By the time the Cetaran Army returned to Ceal, the majority of Pelagia, Rida, Zelsia and the Jel-Archipelago were already firmly under Nova's control, and Nova was just starting to move against Ultros. Phryconia and Ninanjiro were managing to hold their ground against Nova's forces, but only just barely. With the aid of the Cetaran army, the Cetarans were able to beat back the invasion of Ultros, and pushed the war front to Rida. There, aforementioned war heroes by chance discovered a camp of Novean refugees who had abandoned Nova, and just wanted to live a peaceful life. This surprised many of them, as they had been under the impression that the vast majority of Nova's forces were just Angels of varying appearance. With the exception of Nova's commanders, the common consensus was that Nova's forces were all brutal savages, little more than feral beasts. However, this discovery should totally shift this perception.

The war heroes, having fought at the side of Lucifer, were naturally more open to this notion than others, and promised the renegade Noveans to do their best to relate their plight to the Original Species, and see to their safety. The reception of these news was, as expected, very mixed. By now, everyone on Ceal had lost kin or acquaintances to the Noveans, and many thirsted for vengeance. However, cooler heads eventually prevailed, arguing that every Novean they could convince to abandon Nova was one less soldier in her ranks, and would make it easier to defeat their true enemy, which was the Goddess herself.

And so, plans were put into measure, propaganda was spread as much as was possible into the Novean ranks, and the forces of Ceal started to demonstratively take prisoners, frequently calling out for the Noveans to surrender if the battle had already been decided. One challenge at this point proved to be that the people of Ceal had to learn to differentiate between the four Novean Species, and the Angels - which came in many forms. Especially the Celinne with their shapeshifting capabilities made this a difficult task. However, in the end these efforts bore fruit, and Nova found herself losing followers left and right, including Bianca Anylekari, as well as Pegasus, another one of her Archangels.

By now, Nova was at a decisive disadvantage. Being a Deity, the extent of her powers in a world were in direct proportion to the number of Mortal followers she had. In the beginning, her primary source of power had been the Novean Adventists, and afterwards she was able to draw on the veneration of the Novean Species. However, now this source was rapidly drying up too. Thus, Nova decided to take drastic measures, and hit all of Ceal with yet another devastating attack, this one directed on destroying technology itself. A sort of Iserial EMP, this destroyed almost all Iserial Programs and Iserial Crystals on Ceal, which dealt a crippling blow to all but the most simple communities on Ceal.

Being a highly technology advanced nation, this hit Cetara worst of all, not only destroying its economy, but also disabling the majority of its army. As such, the Cetarans rapidly found themselves losing to the Noveans, and great civilian casualties were unavoidable.

Effective as this attack had been, however, it should also prove to be Nova's undoing. Weakened by the strain it had put on her, Nova retreated to Minayeiranro, leaving the command of her forces on Ceal to the Archangels while she recuperated. The war heroes, whom by now had been joined by Bianca and Pegasus, used this opening for a decisive guerrilla counterattack. Aided by a mysterious Draykin woman, they managed to storm Clyainlero aboard the Reginleif - which had just narrowly avoided being hit by Nova's attack - and defeat the Archangels. After that, they took the Reginleif to Feera and took the battle to Minayeiranro once again. They confronted Nova, and although they knew they would be able to actually permanently kill the Goddess even using Godslayers, they managed to seal the Goddess Nova within the Crystal Seal, thanks to the sacrifice of Pegasus, who forfeited his own life by using Minayero to complete the seal. The sealing of Nova is usually taken by historians as the ending point of the First Novean War. However, even as she was being sealed away, Nova promised that come a millennium, she would return and exact vengeance upon those who opposed her, while rewarding those who followed her.

## Aftermath

After the sealing of Nova, the war heroes played an essential role in defeating the remaining Novean forces on Ceal. However, the war had left deep scars, and nothing would ever be the same again. Over 99% of the Cemarelij population of Ceal had fallen victim to the war either directly or indirectly - such as succumbing to the famines and plagues that followed the loss of technology. The fact that an Iserial Calm was rapidly approaching naturally only served to make things even worse. The Wel - being the prime inhabitants of Cetara - had been hit particularly hard, to the point where now several Wel races were critically endangered.

Even with the war heroes' efforts, not all of the Angels could be exterminated, and with the technology form making Godslayers now lost, the few remaining greater Angels posed a considerable threat. Fortunately, with no one to command them, their behaviour became uncoordinated, making them about as dangerous as Greatdragons. Eventually, a decision was reached to abandon the thoroughly devastated Jel-Archipelago altogether, and use it as a place to exile the earthbound greater Angels to, while the remaining airborne greater Angels were defeated through use of the last remaining Godslayers.

Also, there was the issue of the Novean Species. During the last phase of NW I, a considerable number of Noveans had either defected or surrendered to the Original Species, resulting that now the number of surviving members of both kinds of species was about evenly matched. Eventually, it was agreed that the continents of Pelagia and Rida would be handed over to the Novean Species to do with as they pleased, while Cetara focused on rebuilding its civilization on Ultros, as well as within Meviek, the construction of which had been begun during the last phase of NW I as a final means of escape. In hindsight, this had been an extremely lucky move by the Wel due to the fact that all Iserial Programs and Iserial Crystals that had been in Meviek or on the Ceal-Meviek Causeway at the time of Nova's technology-devastating attack were still intact, and thus served to give them a bit of a jump-start.

Meanwhile, the Domain of Ninanjiro and the Kingdom of Phryconia were maybe the best off after this war. However, despite not having depended heavily on technology like the Cetarans, they had still suffered grievous losses that they now needed to compensate. Again, the oncoming Iserial Calm only made things more difficult.

Over time, the conditions between Cetara and the Novean Species deteriorated as old followers of Nova began to promote worship as a proper religion. Despite attempts from the Original Species to dissuade them, many Noveans soon adapted to this new belief, glorifying the old days and praying for the return of the Goddess Nova. This was the effective birth of the Novean Faith.