Phyrrian War

Phyrrian War

The colloquial name for the genocidal combat between the Phyrrians and the rest of the galaxy. It began officially on September 22nd, 3007, and ended December 29th.

The War's origins date back to several attacks on the Overmind, causing it to determine that the sentient organic lifeforms of the Orion Arm were a threat to its very existence. Some speculate that it reached this conclusion through faulty programming; all that is clearly known, however, is that the Overmind began to plan many months in advance for a strike against all organic life in the galaxy.

Through the efforts of rebel Phyrrians who opposed the war and the Watchers, the galaxy became aware of the Overmind's plans several months prior to September. However, few individuals or governments took the threat seriously, and little preparation was attempted. This changed at the beginning of September, when Jeff Ryan chose to fly into Phyrrian space and discovered Odarite warships stationed there. His attack on one and subsequence death galvanised the Phyrrians into officially confirming their attack plans.

Subtle technology-based attacks, as opposed to actions of the Decimator Fleet, followed. On September 14th, Waldheim's power grids shut down, followed one hour later by complete loss of contact with Luna. In both cases, Phyrrians nanites were found to be the culprits; the entire population of Luna was lost when the nanites vented the habitation domes. On September 16th, a similar attack on Ungstir was thwarted, the credit given to Kip Caspar. Evidence pointed to Odarite trading vehicles as the possible source of the nanites, a logical surmise in the face of their unconcealed alliance with Phyrria.

On the 22nd, the war began in earnest with an attack of 36 warships upon Ungstir. Kip Caspar caused 12 to disappear through the use of Kamir powers, buying the Ungstiri time to evacuate before the others returned and destroyed Ungstir the next day. In response to this battle, an allied fleet consisting of the Martian Vanguard, the Sivadian RNS, the New Luna Militia and the Demarian Militia was formed. New Luna was the next target, and while this allied fleet was rallying in its defense, Waldheim was attacked to considerable loss of life.

On October 6th, the Battle of Waldheim resulted in the destruction of 24 Phyrrian carriers and the liberation of Waldheim by the Allied Fleet; however, the planet's population was more or less eradicated by that point. The Overmind retaliated by attacking Castor on October 14th.

However, all was not negative for the allies. On October 31st, news of Odarite rebellions and political chaos was accompanied by news that the Phyrrians pulled out of Castor. A lengthy period of quiet followed, broken mainly by more good news- a technological defense against the Phyrrian nanites developed by Osirian Enterprises. On November 28th, the allied forces forced Odari to surrender without firing a single shot.

The continued silence from Phyrria was evidently also sign of internal discord, as the next motion of the Phyrrian war machine was to be a rebellion. Elements within the Phyrrians displeased by the war overthrew the Overmind and reprogrammed it on December 29th, resulting in a cessation of hostilities. The full extent of external involvement in this coup is unknown, but the new Overmind publically thanked Captain Rathenhope and his crew for their efforts.

However, the toll of the war was still tragically high. New Luna and Waldheim were rendered largely uninhabitable, Ungstir was reduced to asteroids, Luna's entire population perished, and Castor faced considerable hardship in recovering from the environmental blight of the Phyrrian war machine.

Investigations of the Odarite role in the war and relief efforts for Castor continue to this day, whereas Ungstir has become a haven for criminals. Efforts to repair Luna's habitation domes were begun in April of 3008.