Fall of Yadra

*"May the past kings forgive me for what I am about to do"*

-King Mezak, right before the final evacuation of Yadrani-

While those who survived it have given it many names and titles, most Karthemas agree to call their war against the Biluan Mind the **Fall of Yadra.** From 2231 to 2240, the combat swarms of the Biluan Mind fought against the Banners of the royal army in a series of skirmishes and major battles, most of which took place on the surface of the Kingdom's capital world itself: Yadrani.

Known to be one of the bloodiest wars at that time, the Fall of Yadra saw the deaths not only of millions of warriors in the Yadrani Royal army, but also billions of killed and wounded in Yadrani and other planets of the Kingdom, as Biluan swarms cared very little about the difference between soldier and civilian. The massacres caused many to leave the war zones and try their luck on the nearby Commonwealth, a fact which soon made the Karthemas one of the most common species to be found within its borders.

Historians of the event consider that the Fall of Yadra marked the beginning of the end for the previously-strong Kingdom of Yadra. Losing a number of fleets, key planets, resources and manpower, they were never able to recover their last power.

## The War

### Struggle in Space

First to suffer the wrath of the Biluan Mind were the frontier worlds of the Kingdom. With only a few royal patrols to guard the frontier bases and colonies, the Biluan fleet easily entered into Karthemas space. Karthemas corvettes managed to intercept and blow up a few advancing ships before they were forced to pull back, some damaged, others nearly destroyed after the constant salvos of the Biluan guns.

The war caught King Mezak completely by surprise. A great ruler in times of peace, he was not ready for war and so delegated to High Dukes and Counts, few of which had any more military experience than their ruler when it came to fighting an interestellar war. Reports of the high numbers of the Biluan Fleet made some of the nobles argue for guerrilla, hit-and-run tactics, where the Royal Fleet would focus mostly on raiding the Biluan supplies, while the Royal Army stopped any invaders who dared to set foot on sacred, Karthemas ground.

This choice was met with much protest by a few noble admirals and high-ranking captains of the fleet, many of whom were eager to march forth and face the Biluan Fleet in their own terrain. Feeling that the advice of the High Nobles was sound, King Mezak argued for keeping the fleet in reserve and focusing instead on the Royal Army and the defense of the Kingdom's planets.

At first, the Royal Fleet performed their duty excellently, their ships attacking like hunting packs those reinforcements and cargo ships coming from the Biluan home worlds. As the war continued however and the Mind started to surround its supplies which higher and higher numbers of military ships, these attacks became fewer and less effective, the ratio of losses of 1 Yadrani ship for each 4 Biluan now falling to 1 Yadrani to 2 Biluan in the best of cases.

As the war neared its end, half the Yadrani fleet was no more, the remaining ships so battered that, in some cases, they could barely function any more.

### Desperate defense

As war in the sky continued to rage on, the Banners of the royal army finally faced the drones of the Biluan Swarm in battle. Expecting to fight mindless hordes of badly-armed creatures, knights and levies alike were surprised by the organization and ferocity of the swarms. Ambushes were impossible, as all drones instantly reacted the moment one of them spotted the foe. Knight charges, so effective in the past, only managed to slow down the swarm for a moment before the noble Karthemas were surrounded and consumed to the last.

No quarter was given to civilians either. Constant reports arrived to the royal palace of whole cities being burnt and consumed by the horde, of columns of fleeing refugees being surrounded and eaten alive by silent, starving drones.

Still, the king's army fought on, even as losses began to reach the billions of dead and wounded and whole planets were lost to the Mind. Millions of refugees tried to flee in cargo ships, the luckiest one's avoiding the gaze of the Biluan Fleet. Others, far less lucky, were trapped by Biluan ships and consumed and hundreds of combat drones were released in the completely fully vessels. Unwilling to be eaten alive, many prefered to blow the ship up and slay thousands of their people rather to be consumed by the foe.

More than any other planet, the fight in Yadrani was among the most bloody. Young squires were quickly turned into knights so they would fight with their masters. The wounded and the old were given weapons, palaces were turned into fortresses. Some of the brothers and sisters of King Mezak took arms, ready to lead the defense so not one inch of territory would be given to their foe.

From 2235 to 2240, the Yadrani fought for their capital world. Patient and willing to test their foe before consuming it, the Swarm send only small fleets and invasion forces at first, just to try the defenses of the planet and acquire possible targets for the guns of their fleet. Some of those targets were fields and farms, as the Mind cared little whether its foe died from hunger or in battle. By 2237, disease and starvation were a common thing, with more Karthemas dying to those things than the guns and fangs of Biluan drones.

By the time the last assault landed on Yadrani in 2239, the Royal Army was a broken force. Individual counts and knights took their armies to the mountains to try desperate, last stands there to protect trapped civilians. Ancalagons, massive, dragon-like beasts who hunted the most remote places of the planet's surface, were turned against the swarm, each best slaying hundreds until they were consumed in turn. Palaces hundreds of years old became the tomb of entire bloodlines, as nobles and servants fought side-by-side for every room and stone.

Glorious as some of these defenses might have appeared, King Mezak could not fool himself any longer. The war was lost, as was the world of Yadrani. Now, the only thing he could attempt was making sure his people did not die with their world.

### Evacuation

The evacuation of the planets of the Kingdom of Yadra was done quickly, as the swarms threatened to take the few airports and bases remaining to the Kingdom. Millions of Karthemas rushed to these positions to be taken out of the planet, yet only a few managed to get into one of the ships which left Yadrani's orbit to freedom.

Desperate to cover the evacuation, the Royal Fleet tried a near-suicidal attack against the much larger, Biluan fleet. While the foe was distracted, armadas of cargo and merchant vessels left the capital, some managing to reach other Yadrani worlds, while the rest tried their luck on other systems and territories, like those owned by the Commonwealth.

## Aftermath

### Decadence of the Kingdom

After the loss of Yadrani and other important planets to the Biluan Mind, the Kingdom of Yadra began a slow process of decline which worsened as new kings and empresses tried (and failed) to recover lost territories. Due to the millions dead or emigrated, thousands of households and bloodlines dissapeared, with few Karthemas remaining to fill the void left by them.

### Casualties

Due to the few documents or survivors of the battles against the mind during the Fall of Yadra, it is quite difficult to make a proper estimate of the number of dead and wounded when it comes to the people of the Kingdom and nearly impossible with the Biluan drones.

One of the most horrifying aspects about the Fall of Yadra was the billions of Karthemas who still remained in Yadrani after the evacuation. Surrounded and with no way out, they were forced to remain close to the mountains, hungry and always moving as hunting squads of Biluan drones tried to hunt them down.

### The Commonwealth steps in

More than 90% of those Karthemas who managed to leave Yadrani ended up seeking refuge in the Commonwealth. The horrors they spoke of, added to the menace presented by the Mind's countless drones, pushed the government of Ortus into a war against the Mind only a few years later, one they won saving millions of Karthemas survivors from being devoured in Yadrani .

While the Commonwealth forces were considered as heroes by many, the monarchs of the remains of the Kingdom of Yadra saw the war against the Biluan Mind as an open attempt to steal territory from their weakened nation. This made the animosity between both nations grow and was one of the main reasons for the alliance between the Kingdom and theYaanari league soon afterwards.