Secret War

The Secret War is the main storyline of the Crimson Tide (Edition 3.0).

It involves the proxy war between Klent Kingdom, and Purple Crystal, two Star Cluster Grade civilisations in the Shattered Star Ring. Even though the individual armies of the two civilisations do not directly engage in the conflict, they both use allied powers under their command to fight for territory.

The main cause of the Secret War, is the ambition of the Klent Kingdom (of the Seoul Star Cluster) to take territory from Purple Crystal (of Coulton Group Star Cluster). The underlying subtext of the Secret War, was the negotiations between the Crimson Dynasty  and the Commonwealth of Light, for the rights to explore the Flickering World (which was only accessible through the Shattered Star Ring). Therefore, the underlying competition was for the rights to explore the new Flickering World starfield.

## Beginning

The Secret War starts soon after the end of Edition 2.0, and officially begins when Bloodshed Land, under Klent Kingdom, invades the Coulton Group, and builds a Star Gate, to link the two.

This is also accompanied by the closure of all other stargates linking the two star clusters.

The begining of the war sets the trend of the Secret War, as the Klent Kingdom forces, led by Bloodshed land, are able to leverage more power and decisiveness than Section Zero, as the Purple Crystal forces.

The disparity is because Bloodshed Land is officially a Super-A Grade influence, with very high combat power on its own (with a high count of powerful calamity grades, and a large number of members) and is very disciplined, therefore it has the power to command the other allied forces to act cohesively.

Meanwhile, Section Zero is an alliance of mercenary armies and other forces, without a cohesive force. The membership is only attracted to the potential rewards from Purple Crystal (in terms of money and resources), but are unwilling to take risks and invest a lot of effort in the war (each party considers their own interests). The result is a consistent lack of high-end battle power (A Grades), as the member forces are unwilling to lose their Calamity Grades.

The only difference is Black Star and the Black Star Legion, who proves his ability early on by undertaking dangerous tasks (personally), even once facing the Bloodshed Land's eight vanguard officials (eight A Grade pugilists) and surviving the encounter. However, his lone outstanding performance is unable to change the tide of the war.

## Player involvement

The Secret War of the Crimson Tide, is the main storyline of Edition 3.0.

### Previous Timeline

In the previous timeline, Bloodshed Land and Klent Kingdom won the Secret War, and were able to gain territory for themselves in the Colton Group (by annexing some star sytems along the border ).

Purple Crystal lost the secret war, with no gains, with Section Zero performing lacklustrely.

Joining Bloodshed Land was the Hidden Storyline in the previous timeline.

### Current Timeline

Thanks to Han Xiao's involvement, almost all the players joined Black Star Legion and therefore Section Zero. Some players joined Blooshed Land (around 1000 'misled sheep'), however, this was the cause of the "traitor" repeatable quest (which served as punishment, and deterrent, for leaving the Black Star Legion).

The players were able to join different kinds of battlefields, and had their first official experience of war at a Galactic Scale (unlike Planetary Surface war in the previous two editions). The group that chose the quest to follow Black Star had the highest returns (in terms of experience), as the threat caused by high-end battlepower and weaponry was reduced by Black Star. The remaining group that chose to join the Secret War, were intentionally (by Black Star) sent to high casualty battlefields "to experience the joy of death".

There are also players who were not involved in the Secret War, insted taking part in mercenary activities or mining activities (as members of the Legion). However, it is only members of the war effort who earned a reward feature (That earned them 10% discount in the faction store).

## End

The Secret War officially ended after Black Star became Super-A Grade. This caused a direct battle between "Tyrant" Heber (who challenged Black Star), and Black Star; in addition, because of the Evolution Cube, Psyker (Super-A Grade from Star God's Pupil Race) challenged Black Star, and "Dragon Emperor" Ames joined the battle to back-up Black Star.

However, Black Star was able to cause the battle to become a draw (unlike Tyrant Heber's original intention to directly kill Black Star). Black Star also becomes an ally of Crimson Dynasty, removing their support from the Klent Kingdom, taking away their ability to legitimise the territory they won.

The end result is that Black Star single-handedly ended the war, and caused major losses to Bloodshed Land and Klent Kingdom (killing many A Grades while still an A Grade, as well as destroying many bases and territories).

### Players

Black Star allied with the Crimson Dynasty, creating a new hidden storyline, therefore in the eyes of players, there was only advantages to gain for being part of the Black Star Legion, and losses (both short term and long term) for leaving.

The exploration of the Flickering World, became the second Main Storyline of Edition 3.0, and players who joined the exploration had an early start on the World Service storyline of Edition 4.0. Thus Black Star Legion once again became a source of advanced benefits to members.