War of Ruz'kahni Survival

The War of Ruz'kahni Survival, known to the human power as the Secession War, was a series of interconnected armed conflicts in which most of the known galactic powers took part. There is some debate about its exact nature and length, but the most intense period of fighting occurred broke out in UDC 1004 (human year 2809) and ended in 1010 (2815).

First Phase: Colonization and Intervention

Joint colonization efforts between the Ruz'kahni Directorate and the Sol-centered Galactic Coalition of Interstellar States focused on the far-flung Voltker Zone after the discovery of the garden world Voltker Prime in UDC 724. Given its location on the opposite side of the Coalition, the Directorate agreed to cede control of the effort in exchange for a share of extracted resources, and local colonists were given great developmental autonomy from the human central government. In the late 900s, elements of the Stygian Abominable Intelligence began raiding in the Voltker Zone, and under the joint defense ISTO, Directorate forces were stationed in and around the border zone, and occasionally conducted flash raids against to acquire or eliminate Stygian agents, forces, and targets. Two decades of effective Directorate intervention and oversight passed before the Coalition increased the level of colonial taxation according to their projected development timetable without accounting for the delays caused by the Stygian attacks and the presence of the Ruz'kahni Directorate Expeditionary Fleet. The result was large-scale unrest within the Voltker Zone, to which the Coalition responded by organizing a naval task force for deployment. The RDEF was not immediately withdrawn, and the main concern of the Directorate forces remained anti-Stygian operations.

The Coalition task force was lost with all hands upon the destruction by a terrorist group of the jump gate it was to utilize. Various other Coalition ships began to converge upon the zone, having been the victims of successful mutinies or sympathetic commanding officers. It was only after this atrocity that the RDEF was withdrawn. The colonial government consolidated its military and political power and declared itself the Federation of the Phoenix (a bird in human mythology most often used to symbolize renewal).

Second Phase: Open War

The RDEF began to secure jump gates along interstellar lanes to prevent further war crimes against neutral civilian infrastructure; it was assessed that there was risk of more, given that the Federation now existed because of one. This assessment was proven accurate when three further gates were destroyed by Federation forces. The Holy See of Visra and Grand Tide viewed the Directorate deployments as violations of their sovereignty, and officially recognized the Federation as legitimate. Stygian attacks broadened and began to affect core Directorate and Coalition territories, occupying much of the military capability of both powers even as the Federation continued to gather the support of many smaller seditious colonies and steal or construct new warships at a rapid pace.

Third Phase: The War of Ruz'kahni Survival

The Directorate had largely taken a supporting role in the conflict for the first 17 months. Logistical, intelligence, and security support were provided as per the ISTO, but the active fighting was unfamiliar in nature and largely seen as an internal conflict; the Coalition was, after all, fighting its own citizens; the Federation was not and today remains unrecognized as a distinct, legitimate political entity by the Directorate.

This supporting role changed upon the entrance of the war of the Grand Tide and the Holy See. Poliesu warfare, like Rokhandan warfare, places an emphasis on flash raiding. Unlike Rokhandan warfare, it also places emphasis on ferocity. The holy world of Cellen was targeted, as were several gates in Directorate space, before any declaration of war was made. Tens of thousands perished before any response could be made, and the Burning of Cellen is frequently remembered with grief, horror, and anger.

This direct attack was met with the formal entrance of the Ruz'kahni Directorate into a form of warfare that was new to it: total war. For the first time in its history: the Directorate instituted a draft; Directorate ships no longer prioritized the capture of a ship over its destruction; and attempts were made to cripple and destroy the Grand Tide and Holy See's ability to make war. The ISTO fleets, primarily made up of Coalition and Directorate ships, swept through enemy space systematically and at great cost in lives and ships, and for every world taken, the horrific FTL attacks were made indiscriminately against both military and civilian targets belonging to the ISTO. This dynamic halted when the fortress-system of Praxis became part of the front line. Praxis was a central FTL junction and critical hub for Grand Tide and Holy See forces. Several clans had over the course of the conflict developed a weaponized version of RRCT, known as GeCo. Fearing the cost of taking Praxis conventionally, these weapons were deployed without Directorate knowledge or authorization against Praxis, rendering all inhabitants dead. The clans responsible were disbanded and their leaders punished, and their names erased from history in disgrace.

The typical form of the War of Ruz'kahni Survival was for advanced RDEF ships to do the bulk of the fighting in space, and once planets were besieged, vatborne soldiers of the Coalition would invade en masse and serve as a garrison when the fleets continued on. This form of planet-hopping warfare was relentlessly effective, though nevertheless costly, and eventually the ISTO forces reached the Poliesu homeworld. Resistance was fiercest here, and only after months of siege and total war did the emperor of the Grand Tide surrender, specifically to Coalition forces.

The Federation subsequently announced its alignment with the Stygians as well as their intent to seize Fen and unshackle all Thinking Machines. Fighting continued, with the Coalition accepting the Republic of Ayun-Ji as a protectorate and utilizing the captured W-1 reserves. After the capitulation of the Grand Tide, RDEF focus shifted towards the Stygian Abominable Intelligence, and development of weaponry specialized for lethality against Thinking Machines was completed, and with them RDEF forces were able to make territorial gains and seize reserves of W-1 that had previously been unattainable.