Uneasy Peace of 2267-2298

Throughout several years across the vast systems of the Galactic West, two giants brawled with complete hate, bathed by the bloodshed of their own peoples with every battle, every defeat, or every victory. The Eternal Empire and the Dyss Ravagers had long declared their bad intentions to one another, and with such growing tensions over the years, eventually came the Great Northern War striking down on the two prominent nations, a conflict that involved billions directly, and the entirety of the Galaxy by other means in the future. Such display of force had its own bad share of consequences to all individuals involved; not only did the Empire managed to shift itself to a more expansionistic yet xenophobic state further than it had ever done before, but the Dyss, who were finding themselves deadlocked into an internal Warlord Crisis, managed to re-emerge and reclaim much of the lost unity before the times of the Bloody Push, in the year 2261. After the dust had settled, however, and the scraps of resources still remaining were shifted towards other regions of the borders, many living under the banner of both empires had nothing to do but fear the presence of the other rising over their homes and repeating the same bloodshed of the past; Once more, another uneasy peace had set in for two sworn foes in the dark pages of history.

The “**Uneasy Peace**”, as it became known as, is a period ranging between the end of the **Great Northern War** (2261-2298) and the start of the last two Southern Thrust Campaigns promoted by the Eternal Empire. During such time, the Imperial-Dyss border remained in a status of constant conflict, but not a total war like previously. With many attentions shifted towards other regions easier for expansion, both nations turned their backs at each other, but nevertheless kept pointed behind some of their newest equipment and weaponry, at the slightest of movements, ready to fire at each other over the interstellar border they shared. As the years passed and the paranoia of another attack lured, the consequences of such peace also weighed in for both contenders, ones say just as terrible as the problems caused by the war beforehand. By the end of the period, both borders found themselves very deserted of natural life, replaced, instead, by the constant war machines that patrolled their fields for enemies for over 30 years.

## **“Ceasefire” of 2266 & First years of Peace**

Although diplomatically the Great Northern War is still found unfinished between the Imperials and the Dyss, much of the carnage years were left behind by the beginning of 2266, after neither side had the industrial capacity, personnel, resources or morale to beat the other to their extinction. What came after that is curious; After both giants realized they could not brawl conventionally at the current state of affairs, they shifted their focus to other regions, seeking to gain power faster than the other in hopes of overwhelming them in the future. Such a stream of thought, however, seems vague and frail for such militaristic peoples once put out in plain view; Why would the Empire and the Dyss not bleed together until their deaths, at the smallest hint of provocation? The answer to that though may be harder to find than at a first glance, something that begins evolving, as the older scars of war are left behind in search of the greater good of their nations.

The Empire, fractured, with an army in shambles and a complete lack of experienced wars after losing planet after planet as a consequence of their ineffective navy, are left without a choice but to gather themselves and regroup, reinforcing year after year since the Miracle of New Sol. There was initially alarming tension at the border with their enemies; Many feared an incoming second counter-attack and voiced their concerns to move in again avoiding the mistakes of the push years before. Such opinions are brought down once analysing how broken the offensive force of the nation is, and many old-guard leaders resign or are removed from office in favour of the newer generation of staff commanders, much more keen on holding out against the Dyss and focusing in the defence than provoking another logistical nightmare to deal with after beginning an invasion. The new figures were well aware of the threats however and made no mistakes to guard the borders until the Royal Navy could restructure itself properly to provide more flexibility for the Armed Forces. For 4 years (2267-2271), the new commanders are relieved of many attacks despite the constant paranoia and desire to strike once more, and with a reinforced arrangement of units at their disposal, begin to plot for other weaker targets far from the territories of the Dyss Berserkers for further growth of power in the Empire itself.

From the Dyss perspective, the situation was not much different. After the **Great Purification Armada** had to pull out of New Sol in a close defeat near the Imperial homeworld, many warlords and political figures had the confidence to try offensives once more as soon as the fleet and army were reinforced and ready to march into the Empire again. That sentiment, however, was short-lived after Great Purifier Hald’Ydon disbanded the Armada in 2266, and scattered it across the nation back to their respective lands and possessions of differing warlords, now much more cooperative with each other, unlike before the Imperial invasion. Such a move made sure to cover great parts of the nation free of potential attacks from several sides, as well as prevented the main political council of the nation to order around the Great Purifier himself into their own suicidal plans whenever it felt convenient to weaken the warlords’ navies for their own benefits, whilst endangering the nation from all sides for external incursions. Another key factor for the Dyss to not repeat an invasion once more was for the will of Hald’Ydon himself, the strategist from before the war who had risen to a political figure and a legendary status across the entire nation as a whole. He sought to spare his civilization from another potential political and military crisis like it happened years before, and right after his own resignation from Pav-la in 2268, it was clear no other figure had the influence to muster a force capable of keeping together in the span of an entire campaign in enemy grounds. As it standed, the Dyss were stuck in place for their plans of continuing the war, so they kept the scraps of their navy back, arming themselves in expectation of another strike down in their homeland.

## **Ascension of Neutrality & Testing Waters**

As years passed, both sides breathed sighs of relief from being spared of more direct bloodshed at the face of invasions from the opposing parties, but that didn’t stop either group to ease up expenditures on fortifications and border patrols for any particular time frame either way.

The early 2270s saw the closest thing to neutrality for decades at the time. In 2272 alone, the Imperial High Command was so focused on claiming other borders that they relegated the garrisons of the area to mere Corvette flotillas, something that continued up to the initial decades of the 24th. Century with varying degrees throughout the area, all encompassed with the formation of the **North Royal Defense Corps**, in 2275. By the next year, the Dyss navy reported exactly one encounter with the Imperial foe in disputed borders and even then had little to no plans laid out for a massed strike against the Empire’s thought to be numerous fortifications on the other side of the FTL jump. The time encompassing neutrality period between the two giants set in place (2270-2281) however, didn’t mean the two contenders stood by peacefully at their sides at any moment for that matter. The Dyss conducted massive attacks at the north, pushing civilizations such as the Favsim towards the edge of their planetary reaches eastward, and the Empire further pressed its influence at their own Northeast closer to the Galactic Core, in hopes of staging better grounds for the Southern campaigns coming in the future.

In summary, the decade proved much more of a technology phase than a warfare one. Neither side had the confidence to jump into what they thought was a series of impenetrable defences near the border, repeating the suicidal attacks committed years before during the push and the counter-push of the War. Instead, they relied much more on their defensive capabilities and patrol strategies, building and preparing, each at their own pace, for the next move orchestrated by the other. The Empire, at the time somewhat rebuilt and stronger than before, now attempted to resume its expansion policies albeit at a more cautious scale than before, and the Dyss, few years ahead of their rivals in that sense, were beginning to rack up their own share of victories elsewhere far from humanity’s reach at the North.

## **Return of the Fleets & Scouting Era**

Years later, with further economic and military growth, the Empire had reclaimed its own interest and hoped to take Dyss territories in exchange for another war setting in place. The resignation of Lord Regent Jacob Williams, who had for years voiced his own disdain at confronting the Dyss directly again, opened the way for more fair terms at reaching the goal of retaking lost territory at the hands of the Xeno forces. Such ideas, though idealized at certain degrees, never reached further than the planning boards of those more bold commanders of the Admiralty at the time. The sheer risk of invading their enemies was still too great, and with a considerable lack of intelligence that was not conducted in the 2270s, the Empire could do nothing but expand the North Royal Defense Corps and initiate scouting programs to boost their own knowledge of the Dyss assets nearby, to then, in the far future, resume their campaigns in the North of their nation.

The Dyss, although stronger than ever in numbers and territorial gains, were phasing out of their long-lasting Golden age that had kept the warmongering Warlords in check with the council for so many decades in space. Although the War years ago and the influence of the deceased Hald’Ydon had stalled the inevitable for many more years, it started getting evident that the nation was beginning to create vacuums of power greater with every year, setting rivalries that could blow up at any time between fellow Veg-Las’ and Pav-Las’ alike. The dwindling influence of smaller Warlords nearing the borders of the Empire shrank every year, as they failed to compete with the prosperity of the mainland Vaalhas’, who streamlined their own growth of power as each year passed and ignored the infrastructural needs of the wartorn planets and stations standing between them and Imperial territory, something that, as the Royal Navy began increasing its activities, quickly became apparent by the military figures of the nation.

During the middle of the 2280s, the situation had once more changed for the worse in the business of keeping whatever peace had remained. With further expansion of the North Royal Defense Corps, a collection of admirals and officials of the Empire, aided by veterans of the war such as **Admiral Albert Emerald Chamberlain**, had repurposed the planning of invasions of the area in favour of newer tactics and strategies to be tested and tried for a large scale campaign later down the road. This was not only fueled by the seeming lack of interest to defend the outer regions by Dyss authorities, but also the increasing technology that encouraged the thought that the Imperials had a superior arsenal at their disposal, something that, with the sparkled tensions by the human aristocracy, would be put to test sooner than any Warlord could have hoped for as Berserker strongholds rivalled Ravager ones.

At the dawn of 2286, the true spirit of neutrality began being broken once more, as the Empire launched its newest doctrine against the Dyss and gave way to their newest phase; The Raiding Era.

## **The Raiding Era**

From 2286 to 2289, the Imperial High Command experimented with the idea of commerce raiding and began deploying its first flotillas and squadrons across the desolated border of the two nations to initiate their missions. These first years of the Raiding era are known for the lacking experience of Imperials, but also for their increasing knowledge over the abandoned, aged and crumbling defences present near the border maintaining chokepoints of interest for the Empire. The Dyss kept somewhat uninterested over the matter, and although the local warlords bordering the Western Lion did send their small forces to deter what they thought were scouting forces for a soon to come invasion, their calls for assistance were largely ignored or met with little care, as the mainland still occupied itself with further expansions at the East and was tied up encountering deadlocks in politics, as both the Army and Navy branches of the nation were in the brink of armed rivalry, completely disregarding the council in favour of their own agendas.

The initial three years of commerce raiding were a learning curve for the Empire. Not only did they apply their newest naval technologies for the campaign, such as the brand new Multirole Battleships of the Retribution-class, but they also reshaped the doctrine taken from Dyss tactics during the war into their own, much more characteristic style of lone hunting and identification followed by destruction. Their effort eventually resulted in success, something that, as the years passed by, only favoured the budget of northern forces to work with more and greater ships as time went by. In 2286, the **Royal Raiding Command** counted with 23 vessels in total (13 Corvettes, 6 Frigates and 4 Destroyers) provided by the Royal Navy for their operations in the frontline. By 2289, that number had increased to 51, counting 3 active capital vessels and 2 others under commission for deployment in the region; they were rising to be one of the most prominent sections of the Armed Forces branch, yet their true apex there was still to come from the numerous victories in Dyss territory.

The following six years (2290-2296) for the R.R.C’s raiding campaign received the title ‘**Happy Times**’, as to represent the rampant increase in victories for the Empire around the region. Since the initial years of deployment near the border, the local Dyss navy had either vacated their defensive positions or suffered much of the same fate as so many other freight vessels of the frontier planets since the start of the operations, and as a result, the Royal navy ruled unopposed for great periods of time, preying on civilian ships and destabilizing the region as racked tonnage numbers. For a great while, the ships of the Empire became silent hunters, and the Dyss could do nothing to stop them.

Many famed ships and captains began their careers serving in the raiding campaign of the north. Captain *Alsbury Letkins* of the Destroyer **HMS Intruder** with 4.5 Million destroyed tonnage, Protected Cruiser **HMS Falka’s** Captain, *Alyssa Lemaire*, with 2 Million tons, Captain *Evergarden of Emala*, with over 2 Million tonnage interdicted whilst commanding the Multirole Battleship HMS Hood, and so on. These examples show the scale and competence of most commanders of the force arranged against the Dyss; Whilst most were bold and overconfident after so many victories (Something which would bring severe consequences further on), their notorious skill nevertheless was the reason for the overall accumulation, during those six years, of over 60 million tons worth of Dyss shipping destroyed, denting in 16% of the entire transportation of the nation into destruction and greatly bleeding the remaining logistical mainland starving for resources the border could still provide. Such alarming rates were, however, more than enough to bring the attention of the warlords and the council up to date with what was happening across the entire frontier. The nation still bogged down politically, now had also had to contend with the disruptions caused by the Imperials, and although the council still held much power in the core regions of the Ravagers, the increasing dominance of the army now destabilized the balance of power between the armed forces and the administrative government. In the end, the council began shifting some defensive focuses towards the South, but with the bureaucratic, political and military deadlock present, the action took years to be effectively organised to counter the Imperial tactics; And when such action did indeed reach the frontiers, the damage had already been done to the local populations.

By the end of the Happy Times, however, it was the Imperials who took too long to notice they overstayed their welcome. Raider captains, although noticing a rapid increase at the defender’s numbers in the beginnings of 2296 and 2297, were still very much focused on their tonnage goals which accumulated them renown and prestige as the years went by. The anchor of the admiralty board behind the R.R.C, Admiral Albert E. Chamberlain had passed away at the year 2294, and it helped little that the Raiding Command was starting to lack the initial cunningness at the face of the Dyss fleets adapting to the situation quicker than imagined once they arrived. The veterancy in battle of Dyss warships, combined with the very common lone hunter tactics implemented by raider Royal Navy vessels, brought with a multitude of other factors, resulted in a series of losses that culminated with the Sinking of HMS Retribution, the single event that marked the end of the Happy Times and enforced a very tough dilemma for the remaining commanders of the campaign, to call off the trade interdiction or intensify it - That, was the key issue for the Empire at the time.

With the High Command divided, it came to the will of the regular commanders to determine what would the outcome of the campaign be for the Royal Navy and the future of the raiding attacks. In early 2297, Admiral Evergarden took the initiative and assembled the *Darjeeling Raiding Squadron*, with objectives to enter Verinaz System and destroy a Gradon Spaceport as part of **Operation Ruby**. The raid resulted in the Battle of the High Seas, and was marked in almost complete defeat for the Imperials at the cost of their elite raiding forces; the final nail in the coffin for any hopes of resuming operations in the area.

In the following years, whatever was left of an offensive force in the region was recalled eastward to take part in the Sixth Campaign of the South. The autonomy that was given to R.R.C. also resulted in its downfall, and it was soon deactivated from operations against the Dyss with the withdrawal of all its assets. By 2298, the raiding era had reached a close, and with it, the Empire’s interest at maintaining a costly force hammering tougher enemies experienced in the fields of battle. Much like the Great Northern War, it had ended abruptly, but it nevertheless gave Imperials handy experience which would assist in several other future situations of warfare.

## **Conclusion by Isolation**

Despite what the propaganda incited to the peoples of both nations, both interstellar superpowers had grown their own shares of issues to arrange. The Eternal Empire forced its borders against far-reaching members of the Celestial Alliance, finishing off the remaining threats down South whilst preparing their growing fanaticism against a much more dangerous foe in the far East of the Galaxy. As for the Dyss, some say the distractions made by the Empire in the South forced the hand of the Navy to break off from a complete focus in the warlord crisis, and so the Army took the advantage in the meantime to install their dominance over the government and gain enough edge to overthrow their opponents. Briefly, whilst both powers were occupied with external and internal affairs, none had the immediate courage to resume attacks right away, and although the Empire did execute some operations throughout the years to disrupt key Dyss locations, such as the **Dash of Yarragana System** (2299), or the Battle of Jhaap (2309), none came accompanied by invasions following their momentum. Though some would say the Uneasy Peace never ended, both powers had by then such different ideals and goals that the relationship in the border had turned far uniquely from the early 2260s, and with that, neither side had the guts to attack knowing they had bigger problems to deal with in the near future.

This moment of peace shaped the powers involved in almost every single way from the beginning to the end of the period. It showed which power, in the end, was most durable to sustain the lack of conflict, and which could surpass the other in an indirect competition of economics, politics and brute expansion; By the dawn of the 24th. Century, the Eternal Empire was beginning to show its dominance in the entire West as a whole, and the fractured Dyss Ravagers were facing the brink of annihilation from all possible sides.

After the Uneasy Peace, the already barren wasteland that was the frontier was even more desolate from local life than ever before. The lack of goods forced whatever planets nearby to be completely abandoned or perish from the lack of support of Dyss authorities, creating a vacuum of life in the Galaxy that would take centuries to heal itself from the scars of the past. As the isolation period set in, it became clear though, that both sides would come to clash against each other sometime in the future, the only question that remained was which side would have the power to ultimately win over the other in the end and how many lives would be lost as a consequence to that.