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500 Years War

Definition

The 500 Years War is a long ongoing conflict in Metrianda- the longest conflict in the Elseworld’s history. It is primarily between the Republic of Metrianda and The Kingdom of The Sun with major involvement from the Socialist Republic of The Moon who was fighting, against their will, for The Sun up until a year ago. The war is fought primarily aerially though the first deployment of infantry and ground troops in over 4 centuries happened on Republic ground late 9942 (last year). As it stands the current front line is in Ledico- the Peridot city in the Republic mayored by Magnus Illumine, but Moon forces have struck The Sun directly for the first time in recorded history and are currently deployed across its surface. Over a trillion lives have been lost in this conflict since its onset on 3/1/9419 with the most being on 9421 during The Great Reset. The war is split up into three parts: Post-Council Rebellion, Cold War, and Post-Truce (or Truce Rush).

Victory Conspiracy

While rightfully dismissed by most due to the lack of public evidence confirming it, 37 finds that the aasimar known as Pareidolia Di’or — a surprise actor in The 500 Years War and leader of The Sun - is actually the former Metallic Council dragon known as Victory the Gold. Through obsessive research done by scouring the internet and invading librarians’ homes, 37 uncovers medical documents, secret videos, memos, and journal entries that together prove that immediately after the execution of her lover (Levone Merritt) and her accidental killing of the Robasan hero Maldreth Matriad, Victory the Gold approached the TwelveCourts mystic Neveah Mer’t for a deal.

While what she traded and what she received are mostly unknown- we do know, through these documents that 37 finds, that Victory received an ability that would help her “fix” the man she had just murdered, and inevitably “fix Metrianda” as a whole. She agreed to the deal and took on the Angel of War, Pareidolia Di’or, a sentient magic parasite who would aid and guide Victory through the “next few years”. In reality, Pareidolia slowly overpowered Victory until the woman no longer existed, and took on the body for her own. Working for an outerworld god called | (\, or Or) Pareidolia’s primary goal is to open a portal out of Metrianda and let her goddess in; something she has, according to the journal 37 has found, tried every million years to do for septillions of years to no avail. Her primary method of doing so involves conquering and destroying Metrianda and using the portals designed by Meter Matan as a part of The Sun and The Moon- but after successfully conquering the world several times over she had found that the Gates built into the ships do not seem to function, they are missing a piece. Her second method involves collecting a series of scientists and engineers that she believes hold the key and forcing them to work on this project- a backup plan of hers that has not yet worked. Her third and final method involves Station GIVE, which she realized existed several million years ago. While still broken and currently inoperable- there is a fully complete Gate in Station GIVE and Station TAKE. For millions of years Pareidolia has been funneling money and resources into GIVE as a means to try and get the device working, something that would hopefully make it so she wouldn’t have to conquer Metrianda at all. This plan of hers was working for some time and shows a lot more promise than her other ideas, but it seems she has now been permanently blacklisted from GIVE.

At the moment it seems the hosts are spread thin while trying to keep the Station together, catch the serial killer targeting civilians, deal with the returning original Captain, and prepare for whatever retaliation the Sun brings.

Causes

While generally the actual events of the first battle of the war, on 3/1/9419, are described as a “surprise” with few signs, historians note that trouble was very obviously brewing for years prior. Generally, the cause of the war is usually directly tied to the execution of Levone Merritt- Moon Captain Maldreth Matriad’s daughter- by The Council of Dragons 15 years prior to their fall. She was embroiled in a fraternization scandal with her Metallic Council Dragon- Victory the Gold- that under Chromatic Council rule typically led to all Metallic dragons and their mayors, workers, and heroes being “culled” (official verbiage) and replaced. However, with the support of the Council founder Yevie Tenebris Purpumtum and his daughter, the then Council Head Bravophae Tenebris Purpumtum, the Chromatic Council reduced the sentence to a televised execution of the Hero by her Dragon Partner. Levone, her father- a high ranking hero of Robasa under Bravophae at the time, and many other supporters of the young Coqan were left in the dark about the execution up until it was happening. It goes without saying that the event was not well received and shortly after Victory executed her partner she and Matriad disappeared into The Underglass for weeks- returning later acting “strangely”, which was incorrectly presumed to be the result of grief.

Levone, Matriad, and Victory were core members of a secretive revolutionary group intending on establishing a coup against The Council alongside both prior listed Tenebri Council Members and the future Mayess of The Republic, Kian Shigar. This group was large but unnoticed at the time as it slowly spread across Metrianda- and is another point of contention regarding what could have led to the war. While the original planned coup did not occur- as Matriad (and Victory) went rogue and started the attack that led to the war’s onset- the group’s influence on the inevitable collapse of The Council cannot be argued. This group was intending on staging their coup after inserting core members into Council and Council-Adjacent positions, most importantly the Mayessal position and the Captains of the newly constructed Voidships: The Sun, The Moon, and The Stars (The Moon being the only successful election with Maldreth as acting Captain). This group was, during this 15 year period leading up to 9419, heavily focused on getting Kian Shigar and Finnigan Leagallow into the positions of Mayess and Vicess to the point that the movements of Maldreth and Victory went widely unnoticed- Victory especially. This election also played a deep role in the events of the attack on the Council as The Mayessal Election was used as a distraction by The Moon and Sun in their approach.

Shortly prior to the election there was a peace banquet held by Mayessal Candidate and projected winner- Abigail Daisy, wherein she invited the entirety of the Metallic Council, her mayor Dr Mayor Oxi Gyn, her heroes of her city, her opponent Kian Shigar, Captain Maldreth Matriad, Vicess Candidate Finnigan Leagallow, and Council head Bravophae Tenebris (who brought her father, Yevie Tenebris). The banquet was held in Eaile’s city beneath the glass- The Old Capitol, the capital city of the entire Underglass, specifically it was held in the upper levels of the tiered city near The Glass itself. Through a few misplaced documents and conspiracy boards, you find that the event was doomed from the start. Within the moments immediately following Abigail Daisy standing up at the banquet table to begin the event the power to the entire lower tower structure was cut. In the 10 seconds of darkness following Abigail Daisy and her mayor and Vicess partner the Dr Mayor Oxi Gyn of T.O.C. were assassinated through blunt force trauma and a bullet to the head respectively. Over the course of the next few days the Metallic Council members- excluding Grace, Truth, and Victory- were assassinated, along with several notable members of their communities, various employees of Eaile, and surprisingly- Kian Shigar, which you find despite this information being extremely buried and extremely secretive. Unsurprisingly, this event is reported to have been the work of The Sun and The Moon- while up until recently it was entirely pinned on The Moon you find that it, frankly, had little to do with them at all and any Moon forces involved were in extreme duress. In either sense, 37, with a lot of looking you find that the ultimate goal was to quietly cut off every attendee from the outside world and:

Onset

The attack mentioned above went on with hardly a hitch. The two mayessal candidates were forced to perform their debate and election night practices to distract the Chromatic Council as The Sun and Moon ascended from their hiding positions in The Gas. In less than 15 minutes both ships opened fire on The perch and killed or heavily injured nearly every attendee on live television. Pareidolia and Maldreth left their ships to examine the scene afterwards. As Pareidolia did just that, Maldreth made a formal address to the public through the sole functional camera remaining on The Perch regarding what the next years would bring. A speech that was interrupted as Pareidolia approached Finnigan Leagallow, who, while injured himself, was working to revive Kian Shigar. Maldreth halted, turned to watch, and stopped his speech- quickly placing himself between the advancing Pareidolia and the unaware Finnigan. While the footage from this camera stops here, there is a cell phone video from a survivor that shows Maldreth deflecting a series of attacks while berating his would-be wife for attacking people who are not targets. He brings up his daughter and starts an argument giving Finnigan time to teleport away- though just before he does Maldreth is skewered through the chest and discarded to the ground, presumably deceased. Pareidolia stands alone on the perch before leaving with Maldreth’s corpse. The Perch is swept clean and a full scale invasion begins afterwards- where Maldreth is seen again at Pareidolia’s side.

In The Underglass, Finnigan Leagallow quietly nurses Kian Shigar back to health after using his connections and knowledge of Metrianda to promote Kian to Emergency Mayess- a practice that assisted in her recovery as it physically rejuvenates the elected Mayi (through a process which gives them a new arcanely enhanced body to inhabit, one that is magically connected to Metrianda). As the war rages above, Kian and Finnigan gather allies below and form The Republic. At this time they are the only faction fighting against The Sun. Simultaneously, scattered smaller factions in The Underglass who do not join up with and become absorbed into The Republic take advantage of the war and power vacuum left after The Councils’ destruction. Most gather land and resources immediately surrounding their bases and hunker down for the long haul.

The Great Reset

For months after its coup, The Sun orbited The Perch while The Moon pushed forward, invading cities and starting conflicts while combating The Republic from below. This practice continued until 9420, following the only complete invasion of an Underglass city (The Old Capitol), when The Sun moved positions for the first time in a year and aligned its Bridge and Heart with the Tower Eaile. While this information is unknown to most if not all of Metrianda, 37, you find blueprints and memos that give you a bit of an idea on what occurred immediately afterwards.

It should be noted prior that through these memos you find that Meter Matan has marked the following act as a dangerous and unstudied practice and is a highly unrecommended usage of The Gate and its Entropy-Control, but one that is theoretically possible. On that Bridge, Pareidolia Di’or used Abigail Daisy- the then Captain of The Sun-’s body to activate the partially complete half-GATE (an experimental portal made to help people exit The Elseworlds designed by Meter Matan). These structures only exist on The Moon and The Sun, though The Sun has the only complete half. Despite this it is only semi-functional and has only been able to be used recently for partial trips home.

In doing so, presumably using the abilities she borrowed from Twelve Courts Mystic Neveah Mer’t, Pareidolia spun the metaphysical veins of Eaile into instrument-like strings. These veins connect the Tower to its Tower Goddess, Metrianda, The Glass, and the other 12 towers in Metrianda. Pareidolia Di’or then plucked the strings to play a series of notes- the specifics of which remain undocumented. While Di’or’s intentions are unknown and it can be argued if she meant to do this or if it was an entire accident- the plucking of the strings and subsequent melody played resonated through Eaile’s tower down into The Glass and back up into the other 12 towers. This resonance caused the towers to shriek and vibrate uncontrollably- knocking every person in a tower or tower-city unconscious. Following this the Trillion or so people in the tower-cities above The Glass were shunted through and out of their city, plummeting thousands of miles to their deaths. This event is known as The Great Reset and marks the most deadly day not just of the war but Metrianda’s entire history.

For the next year, Pareidolia Di’or abstained from combat herself and forced Maldreth Matriad to lead her forces into a series of battles- most if not all they lost. With this string of wins under The Republic’s belt and a boost to their well earned confidence they successfully started their own aggressive onslaught and drove The Moon back from the Overglass City of Agora, through the other 10 cities, and back into Eaile- where one last grand battle was fought and subsequently won by The Republic. The Sun promptly went into quiet hiding in The Gas- where it stayed for centuries up until recently. The Moon, being the scapegoat and puppeted warpony for The Sun, was forced to take all blame and credit while the true mastermind slipped away from the public consciousness. This, in tandem with The Moon being the only immediately visible aggressor, led to the ship being consistently bombarded over the next 500 years.

Cold War

The majority of The 500 Years War sits within the Cold War period- a time in which the most conflict seen were small skirmishes and espionage. The Sun remained in total hiding for the duration of the Cold War period and exerted its force and power through The Moon- whose image (and it’s Captain’s) were used to intimidate and antagonize The Republic; reinforcing the global idea that The Moon was the sole antagonist and that The Sun was a myth at best. The Moon, and its’ Captain, maintained little to no control over itself, its image, forces, or actions.

During this timeframe, while The Moon’s resources and wellbeing slowly dwindled under the constant strain of The War (as well as The Sun’s consistent taking of their people and resources), The Republic and The Sun bolstered their own. Both were ultimately preparing for a large-scale onslaught in the future. The Republic successfully formed and solidified itself into the penultimate global power under Kian and Finnigan- the latter of which stepped down from his position as Vicess to move to Robasa and inevitably become its mayor-- a position he has held for the duration of The War. They cut off access to The Underglass to prevent The Moon from coming up from beneath them or using The Towers as a means to infiltrate, and set up roving bands of Stars (smaller Matan-Designed voidships manned by crews of 13) to ensure The Moon and its forces stayed away from the weaker cities; save for Robasa, who denied Star intervention under Finnigan.

Robasa, interestingly enough under this leadership, elected to take a more casual approach to conflict and the war as a whole. While the actual levels of Moon influence on and presence in the city is heavily debated, what isn’t is that Maldreth and Finnigan had an unspoken alliance wherein The Moon would stay away from Robasa and keep The Sun at bay in kind. Finnigan himself refuses to (or physically cannot) speak on The Sun, Pareidolia, and his alliance with The Moon. It’s presumed that this peace between the two is a direct result of Maldreth’s actions on The Perch as mentioned prior, actions which allowed Finnigan and Kian to escape and potentially fostered a belief on Finnigan’s part of Maldreth’s and The Moon’s innocence. This alliance led to the more recent events in 9941 to 9943.

Truce Rush

The Truce-Rush is the period of time between 9941 to 9942. While the actual legal truce only existed for the later part of 9942 and first part of 9943, the entire length of it is referred to as the Truce-Rush. This defines the very sudden shift in global politics and combat that occurred immediately following The Moon’s full and total defectment from The Sun, as well as the sudden and violent reappearance of the aforementioned solar vessel. Over the course of the prior centuries The Sun had been gradually loosening control over The Moon. An opportunity which they used to attempt undoing their leash completely.

This weaning culminated in a Moon-Only mission led by The Captain (who had not left the vessel once in the 500 years prior due to being placed on house arrest by his then wife) to heist several paintings that belonged to the vessel from a Museum of Art in The Republic’s capital, Whima. A mole for The Republic leaked this heist plan to Mayess Kian, who personally requested the Heroes of Robasa (an up and coming group of Heroes from the now po-dunk town) to meet her in Whima to counter and hopefully capture the enemy Heroes and the Captain himself- which she believed would bring an end to the war.

Unbeknownst to both parties, the event would spiral out of their control. Spurred on as a front for the Cult of The Heart of Revelation to lure and capture The Moon heroes and Captain for experimentation- this mission ended in failure for all. The 3 dragon children of Revelation (the head of the cult) were killed by both hero groups, and while those captured were reclaimed, The Moon retreated soon after without their artifacts and the republic heroes returned safe but empty handed. Promptly following the Moon unit's return, Pareidolia herself whisked Captain Matriad away. He did not return over the days following, and The Moon slowly found the presence of The Sun on their decks negligible until, abruptly, all generators across the surface of The Moon exploded.

The vessel very suddenly started falling downwards, just barely kept from careening into Robasa’s tower.

Following the nigh catastrophic event, The Moon was forced to make an immediate push upwards through The Gas and emergency dock on Robasa’s side. An act presumably permitted through this unspoken alliance between Robasa's Mayor Finnigan and Captain Matriad even in his absence.

The Sun revealed itself for the first time in centuries in that same breath, beginning a full scale invasion of Whima. The Mayess evacuated her Capitol and all interior cities to any outer cities of The Republic- including Robasa, where she personally fled to.

The Moon’s alliance with Robasa was called into focus. Robasa pleaded with The Republic to agree to a ceasefire with The Moon, making a case to hear out their side of history. Uneasily, they did, and The Heroes met once more in The Underglass on a test mission. Intended both to see how well they could get along, and to gather resources to aid Kian Shigar in her eventual battle for The Republic, this mission was extremely successful. The unified group of Heroes gathered new allies, destroyed The Cult of The Heart of Revelation, and successfully entered T.O.C. and found what they needed inside- Kian Shigar’s original body. They cleared away Tenebrisian Interlopers and successfully rebooted the devices, sending signals between Kian.Prime and the larger Mayess they had been communicating with this whole time- allowing them to return home.

Meanwhile, The War had been devastating all interior cities. The Moon was attempting to repair itself and defend Robasa, yet was unsuccessful in doing so. Thus began the actual truce rush as this same group of Heroes leapt to meet these challenges. They introduced old allies of The Matan kingdom to The Republic, who happily began to work with one another. Resource and trade groups with The Underglass were reestablished, and the frontlines were pushed from the outer city of Edict to the central city of Ledico. While an original attempt to rescue Captain Matriad was made by this Unit (resulting in the abduction of Robasa’s guard captain Sildar Hallwinter and the Moon’s quartermaster Gaiya Shigar), the second was extremely successful- all three were rescued and returned to their homes. Solidly uniting the Republic and The Moon as an allied force.

Things were quiet for several weeks as the war reached a stalemate, and a delicate truce was finally signed with The Sun, who had begun pushing up against Agora’s forcefield. The Republic, keeping a massive nuclear-powered Atom-Lazer housed at the top of Robasa’s tower pointed directly at The Sun at all times, ensured its stability (albeit shakily). Neither group made any major gains for a month, until very suddenly- in response to the loss of Matriad- The Sun retreated into The Gas. Despite attempts to track it, none were successful, and The Republic soon lost all sight of the massive ship until it reappeared a week later-- slamming itself through Whima and Zitaf’s towers. Both cities and their towers were fully destroyed, cracking The Glass in many spots and dropping huge shards down onto The Underglass. The Sun established itself right where it had during The Great Reset- a spot it has not moved from since.

Using the examination of the glass’ stability as an opportunity, The Sun took the initiative to bait and trap Matriad and allies once more. Captain Matriad was abducted once more and forced The Moon into hiding. In response, The Moon, the underglass city of Dunetown, and The Republic itself called an international emergency Special Session with every available faction, city, and group in Metrianda as a whole. Only two invitations were rejected.

The Heroes of Robasa, Dunetown, and The Moon posed an argument for a swift and unified front against Pareidolia and The Sun- calling for a final solid end to the Sun’s reign of terror. This meeting was successful and the Federation or Coalition of Metrianda was formed. Several big pushes have been made since, with the largest being the most recent. Using Station GIVE’s Escherinian Olympics as a cover, The Republic lured Pareidolia and her people into the heart of their nation, Robasa. From there they would stealthily send a cloaked Moon directly underneath The Sun and start quietly boarding the ship, preparing for a large onslaught. Thanks to the unknowing efforts of GIVE heroes Mimi Hanazawa and Abner Soaghat- the plan went off without a hitch. Pareidolia was horrifically embarrassed by her loss at Mimi’s hands and subsequent banning from the event after having attacked Abner. In plotting her own retribution, she turned her focus away from her own ship and instead on the city around her Here, Heroes of the Moon staged their own attack-- eliminating every single Sun ship they could find in Robasa. Further and further distracting Pareidolia and forcing her and her people to stay in Robasa. This unit of Moon heroes retreated thereafter to the still obscured Moon, boarded a plane, and left for the Frontlines- where they have been supposedly fighting since.

While Pareidolia has now long since left the frontlines and is back on her ship, her stalling in Robasa cost The Sun a massive amount of time, energy, and resources that they have yet to make up. The frontlines are being successfully pulled back onto The Sun itself, and the first physical attack on The Sun in over 500 years has begun. This is where we are now.

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