Byrum

## General Information

Byrum was a roughly Earth-sized ocean world. Previously the home planet of the Tyrum, Byrum was completely shattered by the GTU Colossus 'The Sword of Terra' on September 16, 2448. A single station was afterwards built in orbit over the shattered planet, housing the largest memorial archives in all of GTU space. Each year GTU citizens visit this location as a pilgrimage site. It is currently under Core Sector administration despite the system being located in the galactic south.

## Byrum Cataclysm

### Location

Sadarti System

After using the Gateways and bypassing several stations and fleets, humanity had finally made it to Byrum. Finally, they were in the same position as the Tyrum Consciousness had been over Earth nearly 400 years ago. At this point, the knowledge of the operation had been made public, but it was already too late for anyone to respond. And now the project that humanity had been creating for nearly a century, was revealed to be a massive superweapon, a piece of technology that dwarfed any modern warship. On September 16th, 2448, a massive weapon, named the ‘Sword of Terra' was positioned over Byrum, generators charging. When Admiral Almirant Ivanova gave the order to fire, a spear of light was formed, incinerating the atmosphere in seconds, burning buildings, animals, plants and Tyrum to ash. And as it continued, it cracked the surface, causing immense earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, boiling the seas and killing all life to the viral level. The planet was consumed by convulsions, resembling a god wounded by traitorous children, and finally, was shattered into continent sized husks that drifted around its dying core. On Earth and its colonies a few people laughed or cheered, a few people cried, most were silent. Ivanova then spoke the same words that Robert Oppenheimer spoke after the first nuclear bomb test, quoting the *Bhagavat Gita*, and simultaneously revealing to the galaxy what the GTU had become:

> ***“And now I am become Death, The Destroyer of Worlds.”***
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The spear of light ceased, and as the fragments of continents, islands, mountains and trenches begun to drift away from one another, one thing become clear to the whole galaxy.

The GTU *would* no longer be ignored, and its power, no longer challenged.

## Galactic Reaction

Even before the shattered pieces of the Tyrum's homeworld had begun to stabilize, the response from across the galaxy had flooded in. On every alien world in which the GTU maintained an embassy or consulate, spontaneous mass demonstrations broke out. Within a span of days, half a dozen diplomatic compounds had been hastily evacuated before they were overrun by protesters. Other embassies were simply closed or expelled at the request of their host nation. The Sword of Terra and its accompanying escort fleet managed to return to Terran space. The Star Concord, furious that the GTU violated the Tyrum Consesus, closed their borders, an act that would be copied by nearly every other major government or alliance. Even nations that had traditionally been friendly or impartial towards the Greater Terran Union were now belligerent. Terran diplomats had of course expected such a reaction, but the consequences and uproar had far surpassed even their most pessimistic expectations. In a rare attempt to appease interstellar opinion, the GTU announced it would adopt a partial quality 'No-first-use policy', stating that the Sword of Terra would only be used against states possessing a similar type of weapon. The damage however, had already been done.

## Post-Cataclysm

On September 16, 2448, 100 members of the Sunda Commissariat's Guard of Honor silently assembled in Victory Square in the center of Jakarta. In lieu of their ceremonial weaponry, each held a single torch. The statue they encircled was nearly as old as the Greater Terran Union itself, constructed even as ash still fell across the Earth and the survival of humanity remained tenuous. Nobody ever discovered who first tossed their black ribbon of mourning on the monument, but it was soon joined by tens of thousands of others in a mass outpouring of grief. The impromptu act grew to become tradition, and through the centuries, the statue was slowly buried beneath a black cloak of mourning, until entire generations passed by without ever seeing what lay beneath. But on the night mankind unleashed its greatest weapon and the suffering brought to Earth was finally repaid, 100 torches were cast at the statues base. In an instant, centuries of grief were burned away, and the figure of a woman, sword raised to the starlit sky, emerged. Engraved on her shield in every language was a single phrase that until now had been lost to history.

> ***"Whoever shall come to us with a sword, by the sword shall perish."***
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## Pilgrimage

GTU citizens, soldiers, and politicians started a yearly tradition of visiting the destroyed remains of Byrum. It is said that every citizens goal is to undergo the pilgrimage at least once in their life. A station was built in orbit of the once destroyed planet, housing the largest memorial archives in all of GTU space. Countless holo-obelisks project the names of GTU civilians that have lost their lives to the Tyrum threat, as well as those that died to protect the freedoms of every GTU inhabitant. There is a special holo-obelisk, *Spire of the Unsung Heroes*, that is dedicated to the countless fallen which names remain unknown to this day. But the Greater Terran Union will never forget those who brought them to the stars.

> "***Ad astra per aspera!"***
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