Silent Civil War

The Silent Civil War is the term for the one year period on Earth in which the Terran government cracked down on the Earth First movement and organization members.

So named because the engagements were kept highly classified for the first half of the year as raids were conducted on hostile enclaves. The cause of this conflict depends largely on who you ask.

Earth First xenophobes would say that they were driven to act by the dilution of their genes by 'filthy half bloods' such as the demihumans, the perceived threat to their self government and the autonomy of Earth by the influx of nonhuman species, largely dlamisa who arrived for cultural exchange or to work in the increasingly popular interspecies sport of Ballyball. They were further incensed by leaks about the 'Methuselah Initiative' a project in which Dr. Rebecca Walker was thrust. While the public statement was that it would greatly increase the human lifespan to hundreds of years, the conspiracy theory was that it would do so by 'polluting' the human genome with alien DNA as part of a takeover of Earth.

Further adding to this paranoia was the news of the start of construction for one of the largest shipbuilding and docking hubs currently in existence. When finished it would be comprised of one hundred and fifty-three bays which could be used for repairs or construction of new vessels. Built from the asteroids in Earth's own system and connected together via a series of access tubes, it was meant to ensure Earth could construct the necessary colony vessels and host the necessary amount of trade from not only Dlamias, but other galactic powers as well. Though the unspoken truth was that it would allow Earth to construct a fleet that would make it the equal of 'most' other regional powers and set it on path to becoming a superpower.

The conspiracy theory being that William Walker, the chief engineer for the project, was actually building the place that aliens would invade Earth from.

And finally, that Fauve Walker continued to speak for xeno unity and friendship. Her speech, 'We went to the stars, and found our friends' brought her international recognition. Her ties to Percival Barnum's 'Barnum Cooperation' run by Teresa Barnum, furthered xenophobe suspicions that the entire Walker family was made up of traitors to Earth.

Which is why they attacked the Walker home intending to massacre them all. This is the 'inciting incident' according to everybody else.

As the Earth government valued its alliance with Dlamias, they sought to prove that they were taking this hostility seriously, and so brought in elite teams of the Dlamias military to first defend the Walker household, but then to aid in *crushing* the xenophobes. A series of raids, skirmishes, arrests, and offers of clemency through surrender, followed that spanned a full year before the last vestiges of xenophobia were stamped out.

As a result of this conflict a number of legal changes were made on Earth:

-The Treatment of Evil Actor 'TEA' dictated that those who initiated unprovoked violence would be liable for the full cost of any medical treatment they require if they are injured.

-The Defense of Life Act 'DLA' dictated that charges could not be filed on those who acted to protect someone else from attack.

-The Violence Liability Act 'VLA' dictated that if you made statements that 'could reasonably be believed to encourage violence towards a person or group of persons of which the violent person is not a part' those who encouraged actions by their endorsement of said beliefs were held equally liable for the resulting violence. Penalties included confinement for a five year period, a ten thousand credit fine per incident, and/or a lifelong ban on access to global net communications. This charge was leveled against those who stoked demi-human hatred by referring to them as subhumans, discouraged equal treatment, statements that they deserved extermination (including terms such as 'remove them from the public' as it could be reasonably understood that violence was an option for doing so). This law would be similarly applied to political activists who preached human supremacy as it could only be understood that this belief would lead to war and oppression.

While there were criticisms of these, in particular the VLA as it was seen as some to criminalize beliefs and unpopular speech, supporters pointed out that encouraging beliefs that had a record of leading to war crimes and genocide, was the same as calling for war crimes and genocide, and making threats to the lives of others was already a criminal act, so how much more so should it be to make threats to entire populations? So while criticisms remained, the law stood firm, and without a platform to put forth their beliefs, those found guilty of it were unable to gain a foothold thereafter.

Other impacts of the Silent Civil War included an increasingly tight relationship between the militaries of Earth and Dlamias, which in turn raised tensions among most of the prey evolved species of the galaxy. Which in turn led to rising concerns among other predator evolved species that would only grow as Earth's unique Colony Creation Program launched into full swing after the completion of Starbase 'Yggdrassil'.