Kamian Succession Wars

Lasting more than 700 years, the Kamian Succession Wars were the defining characteristic of the Sixth Age.

History

The first rumblings of things to come began as early as the first decade of the Sixth Age. The common conception of the Kamians being 'in darkness' owes to their strict isolationism. When the Kamians severed all contact with the outside world in A.Y. 4508, journalists speculated that the Kamians were beginning a self-imposed dark age. Later, historians simply extrapolated from this to assume all Kamians were now living simple lives, having abandoned all science and reason.

Because of the strict isolationism, no one had any reason to doubt this for over 1500 years.

Hostilities Begin

With the dawn of the Sixth Age, however, the Alliance began making diplomatic overtures. Mining expeditions during the Fourth Age into Kamian space had reported very significant reserves of natural resources, now considered desirable.

However, the diplomatic probes reported a Kamian world very different from the accepted perception.

Another attempt to contact the Kami would not be made for fifty years, at which point it was clear that the Kamians were not interested in trade. Though reports persisted that they seemed to be preparing for 'something', the Alliance felt it best to leave well enough alone.

Then, in A.Y. 697, at the Battle of Lerma, the Kamian Succession Wars began.

The Succession Wars

For 715 years a near constant state of fighting continued. There were lulls and cease-fires on some fronts, but for the most part there was never a time when the guns were silent.

Using tactics honed and developed over the last 5 Ages, Gudersnipe lost territory, but managed to evacuate most civilians before they could be enslaved or killed. A strict policy of scorched earth forced the Kamians to carefully consider their approach to dealing with the Foundation. The wars are named as they are, because this happened 'in succession'.

The Alliance was not so lucky. Inferior technology and tactics caused them to suffer heavy loses, with entire nations falling to Kamian guns.

By the 6300s, the Alliance space forces had been all but exhausted, while many worlds not directly invovled in fighting suffered economic collapse as they tried to produce ships and troops for the war.

The bulk of the fighting then fell to the Gudersnipe Foundation, who shouldered the load well. It wasn't until the Battle of Danielle in A.Y. 6722 that the true cost of the war took its toll. It would be said in years to come that while the Kamians won the battle at Danielle, that day they lost the war.

In A.Y. 6812, the Gunjin Goddess project became the true turning point of the war, and within a year all hostilities would cease. For the Alliance, a long period of reconstruction began; for the Foundation, it was just another day on the job.

Stages

Though one long period of conflict, the Succession Wars receives its name (specifically the "succession" part, and the plural) from the different stages and styles of combat therein. There are no specific begining or end dates, rather undefined periods of character.

Stage 1: Chaos

The early years of the war were chaotic. Information was still slim: The Kamian government had refused all contact with the outside world, and for a long time no one was entirely sure why they were even at war. It was suspected that the Kamians were attempting to re-take territory they had historically held, but no clear idea of which regions they sought.

Chaos reigned for some time as the Kamians out-numbered local units, and bringing larger fleets into position was challenging when the theater of operations wasn't fully understood.

Duration

Many factors contributed to the lengthy duration of the war. Most notably, a difficulty in coöperations between the Alliance, the Foundation, the MK'Harens, and various other groups who opposed the Kami.

The bulk of the fighting was carried out by the Foundation, who openly recruited soldiers from all over the verse, while buying equipment and technology from anyone willing to sell. The Alliance, meanwhile, wanted a more direct role, vocally opposing the Foundation's policy of open recruitment and claiming that they could not commit troops if every able-body simply "ran off to the Foundation instead".

The Foundation wanted greater control, with coalition ships and men simply attached to Foundation units under the command of Foundation officers. Largely, the Foundation felt that "the actual fighting should be left up to the actual soldiers", implying they did not hold other military units in the same regard, and typically applied coalition forces into support-rôles rather than combat. Most Alliance member-worlds wanted more direct involvement: their own units, missions, etc.

Occupations

The Kamians were, from the get-go, fighting to expand their territory. Kamian culture, in fact the entire Kamian civilization, had always relied on slavery, so the populations of any world they conquered were made into slaves. That is, if they conqured the world at all; in many cases, if a planet held no strategic or economic value, they exterminated the population and rendered the world uninhabitable.

While awful, the Kamians were not, in fact, overly cruel towards their captives. Individual cruelties, deliberate malice, held no purpose to them; once a foe was conquered, they were put to use or cast aside. Some worlds even saw very little occupation, beyond a garrison to ensure they were no longer involved in the war. Other worlds saw very heavy occupations, with extensive mining and agricultural activity, but still very little direct cruelty towards their captives.

First Hand Accounts

Raymond Lech was a teenager when his world fell to the Kamians in A.Y. 6250. He lived for forty years under the occupation, and finally escaped with his family and thousands of other refugees. He describes the occupation thusly:

"The Kamians were not, in there own way, particularly cruel. Do not misunderstand; life under Kamian rule was very unpleasant, but very little of that displeasure came at the direct action of the Kamian hand."

Contributions

Though large-scale space battles made up the lion's share of the conflict, with the Gudersnipe Foundation baring the brunt of it, land battles were also extremely common and widespread.

The un-sung heroes of these campaigns were the ground units of the Unity Earth Sphere Alliance Force, who took in drafties from all over the known worlds to fight in massive, sometimes planet-wide conflicts. The Kamians had a ten