First Sol War ## Sources and Info ### Federation [[George Cannadine's History of the Federation]] #### First Sol-War 2108-2111 The UFE and Vers Empire would spend the next three years in an epic war over the land between Earth and 'Vers', culminating in the 36 Orbital Knights of Vers launching a crusade for the planet that was promised them, Earth. While a majority of the Landing castles the knights used to attack Earth were destroyed before they could arrive, a small section of six castles broke off to head for Luna. While the remaining castles made moves towards Earth. As the Six Luna-bound castles began their approach, the Moon Mac array began barrage the heavens with explosions. Successfully destroying two of the inbound landing castles. Meanwhile, the battle for the stars around Earth continued to get more and more heated. As tens of thousands died during insane offenses from leaders without even simulated experience. Through sheer luck, and the support of a rogue knight, the UFE was able to slow down the invading force long enough for the moon to offer its support. As four landing castles streaked across the endless night sky, the Deucalion, flagship of the UFE fleet, arrived delivering with it the destruction of a landing castle outright. With the support of the Moon Macs, the rest of the fleet was decimated until only the ruins of two landing castles remained. Both though, were able to burrow themselves into the surface of the moon. For the next two months a frantic corridor to corridor war was fought over the massive moon instillation. The two landing castles, the Luna Wolves and the Luna Guides, low on supplies, even lower on power suits and people to man them. The Luna Wolves brokered a deal with the UFE, in exchange for control of the moon, the "Luna Knights" would forever defend Earth, ensuring the planet would never be destroyed. In return for this, the Luna Knights would Secure the moon. Following the destruction of the Orbital Knights, the UFE were quick to invade Vers, leaving the fledgling nation with control over the planet. With this defeat, Tzar Victor Petrov would sign the Axion Accords, creating an alliance between the two baby giants, often ridiculed as "the space united nations" the comparison was not without merit. Though the [Axion Alliance](file:///C:/Users/thoma/RiderProjects/Known-Universe-RPG-Wiki/TravellerWiki/Pages/Wiki%20Pages/axiosAlliance) served more as a forum for leaders to voice their displeasure at one another then as a location to actually pass law. ### Versian [[2037-2111 Proto-Vers Era]] - [[2108]] - Formal Declaration of **THe First Sol War** - [[2109]] - Lord Troyard allows for the creation of a Religious Study Group for his Knight, and their friends. Foundation of **Equites Ordinis Deorum** - [[2110]] - Real start of The Sol War. Failed Siege of Terra. Attempted Siege of Luna, formation of Luna Knights. Death of most of the original 36 Orbital Knights. Sigmar was the highest remaining ranking officer in Lord Troyards fleet, and so was granted the title of Knight. - [[2111]] - End of Sol War. Emperor Alexi Volkov installed by the United Federation of Earth. Informal start of Versian Civil War. [[Vers Empire Markdown Version]] #### The Sol War (Siege of Earth) The first two years of the Sol war, from the Vers Empires prospective, were fairly uneventful. After the Axios' being crippled, Most of the remaining two years involved only a few naval battles, and two battles involving infantry. The first infantry engagement was on Axion Station, when a UFE destroyer group broke through Versian defenses and dropped off three platoons of infantry. While the Federation troops were eventually pushed out of the station, it wasn't without heavy causalities. This event led to two major realizations for Vers. First, that more armour was needed for their infantry, as takes were out. and Second that the battle was only decided by who had more bodies and who shot first. The second infantry engagement took place in the asteroid belt past Vers. While the Vers Empire had initally worked to colonize the belt, the "steel barons" and the people under them seemed to believe they were more closely related to an alliance, then a direct member of the empire. The Barons held control over the vital resources needed to construct the Versian fleets, and cities. Knowing this, the UFE chose to attack the Refinery station of Ceres, the seige of Ceres would last most of the second year, and with the bloody conclusion serving to push the UFE fleet back to Earth, gave the Versian lords the fleeting feeling of freedom to press their advantage. This would culminate when the 36 Versian lords directed their Knights to take the landing castles out towards Earth. Six specific knights had been chosen to launch an invasion of Luna. The moon housed the United Federation of Earths 'Moon-mac' project. Covering the surface of the moon with Magnetic Acceleration Cannons, capable of ripping a landing castle apart in at most five hits. Luna was home to 14 different 16 cannon platforms. As well as controlling the Earth orbital grid consisting of another 42 cannons. This impressive defense grid would make it nearly impossible for the Versian fleet to land on Earth, regardless of whether the Federation fleet could deal with them or not. The 36 Landing castles would be backed by the steel barons offensive fleet, consisting of another two dozen ships, mostly destroyers and corvettes with three crusiers thrown in as well. There was also the Dominate fleet from the Tzar himself, consisting of another 47 ships, most of which were repurposed Lenin-class transports, or other ships prepared from the great journey reformed to serve the military. This brought the Versian fleet to a total of 107 ships. #### The Siege of Earth After Launching from Axios station, the 36 landing castles departed on their 62 day journey to Earth. On the 27rd day of their crusade, the fleet encountered the Solar Auxiliary Force, who the federation had dispatched to slow down the Vers Empire in an attempt to buy more time for their main fleets repairs. The SAF was wiped out quickly by the impressive new landing castles, who had previously struggled in the confines of the Asteroid Belt Battles. The small 13 ship fleet was quickly crushed with only 17 Versian causalities, all in their fighter wings. This early victory would not be the last in the siege. At day 28 the Mac array began firing, the rounds would arrive on day 33, three days before the Luna bound ships were to break off. The damage from the initial volley would leave 19 ships destroyed, and another 13 damaged, including 4 landing castles bound for Earth. While none of the core ships were destroyed, this loss would ultimately be a sign of what was to come to the siege. On day 37, the Luna ships break off, at the same time, the Federation Flagship, Deucalion led the First Federation Fleet on a suicide mission to stop the invading army. Mac rounds from Luna and Earth had been decimating the Versian fleet for four days straight, destroying 15 ships in the lead up to the arrival of the Federation fleet. The Federation fleet finally arrived on Day 49 and engaged the Versian fleet, delay the landing castles for three days, destroying 34 of the remaining 67 ships, leaving only 33 Versian vessels, less than half of which were landing castles. The Versian fleet forced the First Federation fleet to retreat, itself having lost 12 of its 29 ships. The Deucalion alone chose to break off from its fleet, heading to defend Maghreb's former posting: Luna. The other 16 ships left in the First Fleet returned to Earth for repairs and to defend the planet from the coming Versian fleet. Of the 33 remaining ships, 14 were landing castles. The empire itself knew that it would only need about 10 to land on Earth actually conquer it, and if they could get at least 8 they could conceivably defend themselves well enough to buy enough time for Reinforcements to arrive. This became the sole mission of the remaining castles. Land enough of them to hold the planets. The fleet began willfully wasting resources to deal with the never ending barrage of mac rounds, just to insure the survival of the landing castles. On board the Versian Ship 'Moskow', Sigmar would be field promoted to Commander, and eventually captain during the Siege due to the death of his superior officers. With the destruction of the landing castle he served under, he would wind up being the highest ranked member of his Lords military and would thus earn the Title of Versian Knight of Germushia. Day 59 saw the return of the Deucalion along with what was left of the Federation fleet, now merged with what was left of the Solar Auxiliary Force, the 25 ships faced down their 33 Versian enemies. They slowed the Versian fleet for another two days, and destroyed two landing castles, along with five other ships. The Federation fleet itself lost another 19 ships before retreating with their heavily wounded fleet. With 12 landing castles and 14 other ships, the Versian fleet continued its journey, now a total of five days behind, the Siege of Luna had turned into a bloody corridor war according to the comms reports. Everyone was shocked at how much of a fight the federation was putting up, as well as marvelling at the speed with which they were repairing their ships and launching new ones. During a data-Raid on Luna, it was uncovered that the federation was launching nearly empty hulls running with less then skeleton crews, at bare minimum usability, absolutely wrecking their economy and resource stockpiles. On day 68, the Versian fleet arrived in Orbit around Earth, now consiting of 11 landing castles and 9 support ships. The pitiful federation fleet chose to hide in the planets atmosphere, attacking the landing castles during their weakest moment, landing. The fleet was able to destroy all but 6 landing castles, leaving Vers just two short of enough to hold their own. Meanwhile the MAC grid in orbit destroyed another 6 ships from the Versian fleet before retreating. On Earth, the six castles landed at: 1) Moskow, Russia. 2) Washington Dc, 3) Paris, France. 4) Beijing, China, and 5) Kinshasa, Congo. Lacking any control of South America or Oceanian would ultimately serve the failure of the Landing knights. But the castles would put up a valient defense, fighting for nearly three months straight, taking most of Africa and Europe, most of Russia, a large chunk of China, but failing to make much progress in North America, where the capital is located. #### The Siege of Luna On day 37 of the journey to Earth, six landing castles broke off alone from the main crusading fleet, their destination was the home of the MAC cannon array that had been slaughtering their allies for days now. The Six castles had been specifically chosen, their Knights trained with the sole intention of taking Luna. The specific orders were: Luna Wolves, Luna Guides, Lua Wreckers, Yueliang Quzhujuan, warathat alqamar, Reges Luna. During the journey to Luna, several barrages of MAC rounds crossed the path of the castles, two of which were destroyed (the Lua Wreckers [day 42] and the Warathat Alqamar [day 48]). The remaining four castles continued on. It was known to Versian command that really only two intact castles would need to make it to the Moon for the celestial body to fall. Unfortunately for the landing castles, the UFE Flagship, Deucalion, equipped with the first Void Drive came to assault the Luna fleet, alone. On day 53, the Deucalion would void jump from the battle with the Primary Versian Fleet, and instead come into battle with the remaining four landing castles in the Luna group taking one of the landing castles by complete surprise destroying it before it even had time to detected the vessel.(Reges Luna) For three days the splinter fleet would engage the flag ship, while being peppered with MAC rounds from the Moon. The combined fire power would destroy another landing castle (Yueliang Quzhujuan [Day 55]), leaving the other two crippled, with more MAC rounds inbound. The Moon was assumed to be a sure victory. Day 69 would mark the return of the Deucalion to the battle against the primary Versian fleet. Around the Moon, the two ruined landing castles of the Luna Wolves and the Luna Guides crawled along, appearing closer to debris than an actual fighting force. Upon crashing down on the desolate surface, the two castles reformed in the Luna Wolves ruins, due to their superior numbers. The Surface of the moon became the bloody battleground of the bloodiest battle of the war, the two month battle would start with dense trench warfare on the surface of the Moon, as the early federation troops were quickly slaughtered by the Exo-Skeleton, Void energy based weapons of the Vers Army. Soon after the fighting turned to close quatres slaughter, with voidblades being wielded by those in power armour commanding their armoured Versian warriors through the tight corridors, overpowering the UFE troops. On day 73 the Luna Wolves seized control of the MAC control grid, allowing the Versian troops to defend their siege of the Moon. During the Siege of the Tycho on Day 105, the southern crater where the major UFE armoury on the Moon was located. The Luna Guides took heavy casualties but ultimately removed the Federation troops access ammo. Upon the remaining troops return to the Landing castle, the two Knights in command of their troops begin to disagree on the direction to take. The head of the Luna Wolves, Marius Lazaerek, declared that he was in command of the remaining troops and that they should asked the Federation to give them control over Luna, as a separate nation from Vers, arguing that so many lives had been lost, and this would actually give Vers a lot more power in the long run. The Knight for the Luna Guides, Pedro Kyras, argued that they should press their advantage, take the moon for Vers, and request reinforcements. While the two would technically continue to work together to try and secure Luna, the factions began to fight among themselves. The Luna Guides especially were torn. Many, while loyal to Vers, were tired from war and death. The idea of Luna as their home to defend, somewhere they could bring their families was pleasing. On day 139, Captain Plaritus Stotalius from the Luna Guides declared himself and his men to no longer be loyal to their old house, but instead joining the Luna Wolves. This declatation, and the resulting desertion from many other Luna Guide units led to a small battle between the two factions. Those loyal to the Guides quickly took hold of the armoury and MAC control room, while the Wolves controlled most other areas. The broken federation forces would commit to their last offensive at this time, launching an all out attack on the armoury. Which the Wolves used to buy them time to launch an all out attack on the MAC Control Room. While the federation troops failed to retake the armoury, the loss of the MAC control room was enough to convince the Guides to finally lay down their arms. On Day 156, Knight Marius Lazaerek would send a message to the Federation Commander of what was left of the Luna defense. The Message was simple, give the <a href="lunaKnights">Luna Knights</a> control of the moon, and they would break free from Vers, and act as the protectors of the Earth. Though, to appease Vers, they would not protect whoever was in control of the planet. Only that the planet itself would never be destroyed. On day 158, the United Federation of Earth send back a response. The Commander was to stand his troops down. The Moon was to be formally given to the newly Created Luna Knights. In response to their betrayal, Tzar Viktor Petrov declared the Luna knights traitors, and that any Versian who goes to Luna will be a traitor as well. #### Axios Accords & Disappearance of Tzar Petrov With the absolute decimation of the Versian fleet, Tzar Petrov was forced to attend to peace negotiation aboard the Axion Station, the once proud naval capital of his fleet. At the negotiations, it was decided that the Axion Station would serve as a neutral meeting point, technically controlled by the newly created Luna Knights, who would be one of the Signatories to the Axion Accords, along with the Gray Knights (who had taken control of Titan around Jupiter) and the witchers, who had discovered an ancient <a rhef="forerunners">Forerunner</a> technology stash on Mercury, and established a temple there. As well, it was decided that Vers shall be forbidden from raising a fleet of more then 100 ships, and shall prefer to rely on the Federation for protection. Meanwhile, stiff penalties were placed on the Versian Government, demanding trillions of dollars in repayment that the government simply couldn't do. Meanwhile, as though a further mockery of the Tzars power. His newest flag ship, the Stalin-Class landing castle, was finished. Equipped with the first Versian Void drive. After signing the Axion Accords, the Tzar boarded his landing castle along with most of his troops and a fair number of citizens, before blinking away, never to be seen again. Many suspect the void drive was sabotaged by Alexi Volkov. ### General [[2106-3118 Second Space Age]] - [[2107]] - Informal start of the **First Sol War** when three Versian and Two Federation ships battle one another while on Patrol near Uranus. - [[2108]] - Formal Declaration of **THe First Sol War** - [[2109]] - Lord Troyard allows for the creation of a Religious Study Group for his Knight, and their friends. Foundation of **Equites Ordinis Deorum** - [[2110]] - Real start of The Sol War. Failed Siege of Terra. Attempted Siege of Luna, formation of Luna Knights. Death of most of the original 36 Orbital Knights. Sigmar was the highest remaining ranking officer in Lord Troyards fleet, and so was granted the title of Knight. - [[2111]] - End of Sol War. Emperor Alexi Volkov installed by the United Federation of Earth. Informal start of Versian Civil War.