Elysium Prime

Elysium Prime is one of the seven Cradle Worlds of humanity.

## Geography

As with most of the other Cradle Worlds, Elysium Prime is fairly Earth-like in appearance, with forests, mountain ranges, and rivers visible from orbit. Unlike Earth however, Elysium Prime is almost entirely land-locked, with only small bodies of water breaking up the surface. This has contributed to its status as a bread basket for humanity, and Elysium Prime is covered in fields of grain and other carbohydrate-producing plants. The planet also possesses two rings, which appear green in pictures taken from orbit.

Elysium Prime shares the system with several smaller planets known for their gemstone mining colonies, though no other details are available about these planets.

## Reconquest

Elysium Prime was chosen to be the second major beachhead of the Reconquest by the United Colonies of Mankind. As a the most productive agricultural world known to man, Elysium Prime was reasoned to be just as crucial a bread basket for the Scourge as it had been for humanity, which made capturing it extremely enticing.

The battle for Elysium began on November 30th, 2670, a mere three months after the invasion of Eden Prime began. Scourge resistance was significantly lighter in the Elysium system than in the Eden system, allowing the UCM to spend proportionally fewer resources on the assault - 150 million humans took part in the first week of combat on Elysium, compared to the 350 million that fought on Eden.

Though the Scourge's void presence was completely wiped out within days of Battlefleet Elysium's arrival, Shaltari raiding parties began performing constant hit-and-run attacks against the UCM forces starting on December 4th, slowing down overall progress towards capturing Elysium Prime. Pressing developments in other theatres also meant that UCM ground forces on Elysium received fewer reinforcements, which likely contributed to the slow pace of the campaign.

### Battle of Triticum Plains

By October of 2671, Scourge forces had been largely confined to Elysium Prime's cities, allowing the UCM High Council to deem the remaining ground forces sufficient to get the job done. On October 31st, Scourge forces that had been encircled in the capital city of Triticum launched a massive breakout, resulting in the largest tank battle of the Reconquest on the nearby Triticum Fields.

Though local UCM forces suffered appalling losses, they were able to hold the line long enough for reinforcements to be brought in by dropship. A bombardment operation conducted by Battlefleet Elysium against the exposed Scourge forces was able to reap a toll, but sudden interference by a Shaltari armada forced the UCM void assets to break off their assault early. This left UCM and Scourge ground forces with an even field, resulting in massive casualties on both sides. Over 700,000 UCM troops and 50,000 sailors were lost, making it the most costly day the UCM had experienced the nuclear atrocity on Eden Prime.

### Post-Triticum

Despite the substantial losses suffered by the UCM, the battle of Triticum Fields ultimately proved to be the death knell for Scourge forces on Elysium Prime. Triticum itself was formally captured shortly thereafter, and with the subsequent capture of Granum City, the system was declared conquered by the UCM on January 20th, 2672. Though small pockets of Scourge and feral Resistance still remain on Elysium Prime, a large concentration of Elysium Prime's forces were redeployed to other theatres shortly after the proclamation. Battlefleet Elysium was also substantially reduced in size, though it remained larger than other garrison forces due to the threat of further Shaltari interference.