Season 1.5

Season 1.5 began on the 15th of September 2018 and ended on the 1st January 2019.

## The Hesperian Commonwealth

### Anthem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQYN2P3E06s

### Species

Humans, Corrupted

The Hesperian Commonwealth is an elitist timocratic collectivist democratic state that has 5 main social classes of people living under its banner:

* The Nobility: The Nobility is often synonymous with the ruling elite of the Commonwealth. The average noble often possessed large amounts of wealth and land.
* The Clergy: A largely different class than the others as members of the Clergy were not destined from birth, rather being comprised of those who lead the Research Foundation and the acting as officials of the various forms of Machinism, the state religion.
* The Populus: Often misinterpreted as the common men and women of the Commonwealth, this class is made up of the landowning population, and not members of the Clergy or the Nobility. The Populus, for much of the Commonwealth's history, staffed the House of Commons, lower parts of the Research Foundation, and Military hierarchy.
* The Citizenry: The largest class of the Commonwealth, made up of the average landless workers.
* The Non-Citizenry: Comprising the final and lowest levels of the Commonwealth, the Non-Citizen class is comprised of the criminals, non-citizen xenos, indentured servants, slaves and the generally unsavory individuals.

There are 3 Main Branches of Government;

* The Executive: This branch is comprised of the Cabinet who is chosen by the Prime Minister and then confirmed by the Legislature.
	+ The Military: Only Nobles may hold higher ranks in the Military. The Military is headed by the Minister of Defense who is appointed by the Prime Minister.
	+ The Research Foundation: Originally, only members of the Clergy could hold higher ranks within the Foundation, however, this was later amended to lift the class restriction. The head of the Research Foundation is the Research Director who is appointed by the Prime Minister. It is the responsibility of the Director to select and maintain the leaders of the various branches of the Foundation.
* The Legislature: Although taking many forms throughout the history of the Commonwealth, the original legislative system was bicameral in nature, composed of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons was elected by the voting citizens of the nation and did not have class restrictions, whereas the House of Lords was comprised of members chosen by the King-Emperor and the Fabricator Dominus.
* The Judiciary: The Judiciary is mainly known for being the home of the Supreme Court of the Hesperian Commonwealth, where sat 5 Justices. Their main duty is to interpret the Constitution, hold trials, and sentence criminals. Another component of the Judiciary is made up within the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), led by the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner. The ICAC focused on the prevention and eradication of corruption which was commonplace within the Commonwealth.

## The First Revolution

### The Build Up

Before anything had begun, the election for the Prime Minister was occurring. The 3 candidates that got to the second round were Verity Whitlam of the Socialist Liberal Democratic Party, Jack Kropotkin of the Interstellar Anarchist Federation, and Minister of Defence Axe of the Re Rustica Ordinis. This was a massive achievement for the Left Unity coalition which was composed of all the parties previously listed. The Left Unity party had managed to push the United Order coalition out of the debate round entirely.

Before the debates could be held, there was an Estates General called by King-Emperor Tim Jim I to discuss the problems in the nation and issues that had been brought up such as slavery and the segregationist system of the class structure. During the Estates General, Chancellor Skelly called a vote on a bill that would get rid of slavery and reduce the class divide. This vote would've passed with 9 yes votes to 3 no votes.

## Jack Kropotkin

A picture of Kropotkin taken shortly before the Civil War

### Affiliation

Founder and Leader of the Interstellar Anarchist FederationOne of the leaders of the Revolution

## Physical description

### Gender

Male

In the latter half of the Estates General, troops and party militias began to be called in. The Interstellar Anarchist Federations and Social Democratic Labour Parties militias arrived, totaling 2000 troops. They quickly began to fight with the guards and with the Police who arrived shortly after. In response, the Union of Order called their militia who quickly stormed the place and attacked the IAF/SDLP militias. Furthermore, the Re Rustica Ordinis leaders, Chancellor Skelly, and Lamrm gathered a bunch of farmers who had RRO sponsored shotguns and sent them in. The Clergy then also sent the Machinis Protectoris from the Clergy's temple that was down the street. This resulted in a massive brawl, the hall that the Estates General was in had almost 2000 people inside. It was mostly chaos, with the Left Unity militias clashing with the Union of Order and Machinis Protectoris. The farmers sang songs and drank beer whilst firing off their shotguns into the air. The Parliament Guard ushered the MP's into a backroom. The ending of this battle is lost to time but it sparked the First Revolution.

On side of the Revolutionaries there was the Interstellar Anarchist Federation who followed the ideology of Anarcho-Communism, the Social Democrat Labour Party who believed in various forms of communism, the Re Rustica Ordinis who followed the ideology of Agrarian Idyllism , the Iron Wave who believed in Ferrism, the People of the Doctrine who believed in Doctrinism, and some independent government officials such as Dragon. The revolutionaries side was led by Axe who brought the rest of the RRO into the revolution after it kicked off, second in command was Dragon who had brought the idea of the revolution into reality using his vast political links and influence.

## Physical description

### Gender

Male

On the other side was the Loyalists, they were compromised of the Union of Order, the New Popularist Front, and most of the Nobility. They were led by Prince Beluga I and Wallace Wallaceson, and later on Prince Beluga II.

#### Internal Strife in the Revolutionaries

Before the Battle of Hephaestus was to begin, there were already cracks forming in the revolutionaries. Jack Kropotkin (the leader of the IAF and a general who controlled many of the troops) and Volkov (a prominent SDLP general) began to fight. Volkov wanted to lead the SDLP troops that were centered around Yenden. Kropotkin refused due to believing that he was unqualified for the job. Kropotkin also wanted to have a stronger hold on the Revolutionaries military due to fearing traitors. This broke out into a standoff between the two, at one point Kropotkin picked up a gun and leveled it at Volkov. Luckily the fight was able to be broken up by the other generals after convincing Kropotkin that Volkov was competent enough and that the various ideologies that had been brought together must work together.

There was also a large amount of discussion about what the Revolutionaries should do if they won, the Ferrists suggested having a system of federalized planets that could self govern so that all the ideologies could survive. The larger parties of IAF and SDLP disapproved of this, however. The RRO just wanted Agryll.

## The Battle of Hephaestus

The locations of the divisions at the start of the battle

## Commanders

### Attacking Commanders

Jack Kropotkin, Richard Volkov, Chancellor Skelly, Lyos Wade

## Territory Changes

### The Battle for Hephaestus

The Revolutionaries from many expert opinions had the upper hand, controlling nearly the entire Army and Navy due to long term attempts to influence by Minister of Defense Axe. Several special agencies such as the Auxillary Operations Force sided with the opposition forces, also being accompanied by a handful of militia division. In total, the Revolutionaries had upwards of 4 million soldiers spread out all across the Hephaestus at the start of the battle, 2.5 million of which were trained members of the Army.

On the other hand, the Loyalist forces were comprised of 4 divisions of militia and a single military division, totaling to around 2.5 million soldiers. The Loyalist soldiers, rather than the widespread Revolutionary Army, were purely concentrated on the Ratan continent (Selfass and Matinuk).

   The first fights broke out on Ratan with a long front spreading from sea to sea forming between an RRO militia led by Skelly, followed up by an IAF militia backed up by a professional division both being led by Jack Kropotkin. The RRO troops bunkered down and built defences whilst farming to supply the nearby settlements with food whilst the supply lines weren't working. The Loyalist military troops were being personally led by Prince Beluga I himself, the IAF troops found this out and Kropotkin ordered some soldiers to sneak around the line to where the Prince was located. The soldiers found the Prince and shot him. This led to a massive loss in morale for the Loyalist troops. Prince Beluga II then took over control of the Loyalists.

Whilst the fighting was occurring on Ratan, the Doctrinist troops in the West began to systematically purge the Machinist population after shutting off communications. This was Operation Retribution. The Doctrinist soldiers fed on the dead bodies in the largest act of cannibalism ever experienced. The Long March had begun. The Doctrinist soldiers marched from city to city killing and eating as many Machinists as they could find. In total the Doctrinists killed 7.7 million Machinists after their armies eventually succumbed to attrition and after Lyos Wade, the Doctrinist leader was stabbed to death. The Revolutionaries heavily condemned the actions of Lyos Wade and the Doctrinists as he had just used the Revolutionaries as a distraction so he could carry out the Long March, but the Loyalists still used what had been done as propaganda against the Revolution.

## Physical description

### Gender

Male

Revolutionary troops elsewhere moved across the great ice sheets to get to Ratan to join the fighting. However, before they could arrive the Loyalists used a nuclear bomb that they had taken from the Research Institute on the IAF militia. This killed 500,000 soldiers in a matter of minutes. The Loyalists attempted to use another nuclear bomb as the Revolutionary reinforcements drew closer but it failed and landed in the ice sheets and was destroyed.

Soon the rest of the Revolutionary troops arrived and began surrounding the Loyalists, pushing them back into the capital city. The XOF (Auxiliary Operations Force) landed on the planet in the North of Matinuk and joined the Revolutionaries in sieging the city.

Link to a video of The Battle of Hephaestus

The siege began with an attempted assassination on Lucius Wade (the current PM). It failed as Lucius Wade was able to defend himself with a baseball bat by killing his attacker, he did, however, sustain an injury to his knee. The Revolutionary troops to the North began a siege on the King's Castle. The RRO militia begun the construction of trebuchets and set up farms. Due to the massive walls of the castle, the Revolutionary troops could not break through by normal means. Kropotkin sent some soldiers through the sewers to try and breach the castle, this was successful and led to a flurry of troops breaking into the castle. King-Emperor Tim Jim and the Loyalist leaders had already left the castle. Revolutionary troops moved further into the city, they killed many Loyalist troops whilst not losing nearly any troops of their own. They descended upon the Parliament, Kropotkin decided to slaughter the remaining MP's that had been there, this event would mark the future of the Revolution. The Loyalists announced their retreat, the Revolution had won this battle.

### Affiliation

Founder of the political party Re Rustica OrdinisFounder of the agrarian idyllist ideologyLeader in the Revolution

## Physical description

### Species

Hesperian

King Tim Jim declared Chancellor and Revolutionary Leader Skelly his heir due to them being friends before the civil war and due to his initial heir, Prince Beluga I, dying. Skelly took up the moniker of King-Chancellor Skelly from then on.

King Tim Jim then disappeared into the ice sheets, accepting his death.

The battle was a massive victory for the Revolutionaries so they celebrated hard. They began work on a constitution, taking philosophies from the SDLP, IAF, and RRO.

Lucius Wade was held in captivity by the Revolution, it is believed he was executed by Kropotkin. Deputy Prime Minister Lamrn of the Revolution then assumed the position of Prime Minister of the Revolution due to Wade being unable to do the job. The suspected that Loyalists rejoiced Lucius Wade's death as he had been problematic for them due to his pardoning of the Vega Pirates, him naming himself regent, and due to the fact that they believed he would try and install an authoritarian government.

The Revolution condemned the actions of the Doctrinists, the Loyalists used the Doctrinist purge as propaganda.

Since the Research Institute was on Hephaestus, Kropotkin attempted to get a nuke from them. He succeeded by strongarming Ristbrook (the Research Director) into giving him the codes by threatening execution.

### The Fleet Battle

The Loyalists and the Revolutionary had roughly equal forces in terms of fleet strength, this was confusing to most as the Revolutionary controlled the entirety of the military high command.

The battle raged with both sides taking equal losses, this all changed when Admiral Griffyn Taiyo, who was acting as a Revolutionary admiral due to the absence of Admiral Axe, successfully commanded 5 ships to join the loyalist fleet. This took the revolutionary forces by surprise as they found themselves surrounded by hostile forces. Loyalist forces successfully secured all the armed starbases in nearby systems during the battle thanks to superior number, forcing the revolution to retreat and giving the loyalist forces a much-needed victory if they were to stand a chance winning the war.

* News Recap of the Battle
* Interview with Taiyo

#### The Volkov Purge

Fighting broke out on Hephaestus when Volkov rallied his troops to execute what he called Operation Red Dawn in which he declared a purge of anyone known to have sided with the UO, NPF, or FCP. The three divisions controlled by Field Marshal Volkov murdered 314,237 people. While soldiers use flamethrowers to set their houses on fire, starting a city-wide fire. Volkov himself was killed by the other revolutionary forces led by O’Faolain and Kropotkin after a vehicle skirmish. Link to the speech Volkov gave An interview O'Faolain gave after the purge O'Faolain also set up military facilities across Hephaestus after this alongside The Revolutionary Vanguard which was a special military force that was put under the control of O'Faolain.

Peace talks began after this but they failed quickly.

#### The Second Fleet Battle

The Loyalists overwhelmed the Revolutionaries in Dular due to having more ships. The loyalists secured the space towards Jimonia and moved two assault divisions onto land on the planet.

### The Battle of Jimonia

Jimonia was taken by Loyalist forces after a hard-fought battle by the Revolutionaries, the orbital bombardment was too much for the Revolutionaries troops to handle and morale fell quickly. Loyalist forces led by Field Marshal Jon Ristbrook, Prime Minister Wallace Wallaceson and Fabricator Dominus Gunnar defeated the Revolutionary forces led by Field Marshal Cyran and Minister O'Faolain.

### The End

With the Revolution having lost any fleet it had, the Loyalists could now siege Hephaestus. Jack Kropotkin was killed by Loyalist assassins whilst in his sleep. Axe had disappeared. Verity Whitlam had died whilst in the Battle of Dular. Only O'Faolain, Dragon, and Skelly remained of the high revolution command. An underground system of secret tunnels was created.

The Loyalists created the Security Council with Executive Order 66 and created a List of Rebels.

Dragon mysteriously disappeared after this, it is thought that he died in some underground bunker.

Skelly left a final message to the entire nation and left to die in a burial place located in a secret cave in the ice cliffs in the north of Ratan. Lamrn also gave a message to the entire nation and then disappeared.

O'Faolain then proceeded to set off thousands of nuclear weapons across Hephaestus that had been stored in the military facilities he set up after Volkov's Purge. Mushroom clouds could be seen from nearly every point on the planet and shockwaves shook the planet. Billions of people were killed, and the surface of Hephaestus was devastated. As the bombs went off, The Revolutionary Vanguard began to purge the ranks of the Clergy and any known Monarchists that were still on Hephaestus. More than 3.6 billion people had been killed, including 19 clergymen in front of, and within, the Aether's Warmth, which itself was heavily damaged by the Vanguard, with the symbols of the Doctrine carved on every surface. Blood stained its walls, and blood covered the floor, with the bodies of the clergymen piled in the center.

This marked the end of the First Revolution. Link to a news report by Nationwide Geographic

## The Aftermath of the First Revolution 2260-2290

The Loyalists made changes to the old constitution such as adding a part that illegalizes discrimination. This however created a few loopholes that would be heavily abused in the future.

Wallace Wallaceson, the leader of the Security Council, ushered in Executive Order 70 that banned the revolutionary parties.

### The Security Council

The Security Council was a council made nearing the end of the Civil War, it was made to keep stability in the nation and to avoid future civil wars. The initial members were Prime Minister Wallace Wallaceson, King Beluga, Thaddeus Vanderzee III, Fabricator Dominus Gunnar, and Grand Duke Valorallen Vitellia. They were "officially" dissolved in 2275, but they continued their operations covertly using Security Council Order 1. They made 12 orders in total. They also created a special Strike Group to carry out their assassinations with Order 2.

#### Criticisms of the Security Council

The Security Council was criticised largely by the new party that had formed, The Stellar Party of Liberty. They said that the Security Council was abusing their power and did not follow the constitution.