First Vuokra Invasion

The First Vuokra Invasion, sometimes called the Cluster Armageddon, was a war of unprecedented magnitude that occurred around 425,000 B.C.E. It involved the forces of the Vuokra tribe Red Six Trillion, which faced off against the Serphiad Union and numerous minor civilizations under its protection. Though this incursion was eventually thwarted by Tixax, the damage done by Red Six Trillion brought about the end of many powerful civilizations, completely restructuring the political dynamic of The Cluster.

Background
As is characteristic of the merciless Vuokra, the First Vuokra Invasion began with much of a warning. Numerous Red Six Trillion motherships, each the size of a large star, teleported near the edge of the Triangulum Galaxy, and, sensing the presence of advanced alien technology within the galaxy, were compelled to approach the Triangulum Galaxy to wreak havoc among the civilizations that inhabited it. The isolated Tribune of Nurl was the first target of the RST forces, due to its location on the distant outskirts of the Triangulum Galaxy. Completely unprepared for the invasion, the Tribune was decimated by RST forces, and its isolation from the Jian'Tur Federation and local galactic community meant that the attacks were largely unnoticed by larger empires. Technically speaking, the forces of RST were waging war several centuries before the actual beginning of the First Vuokra Invasion. However, the total annihilation of the colonies they encountered ensured that no word of their invasion could reach the larger civilizations. Against all odds, a small fleet of Nurl vessels managed to escape from the Vuokra onslaught and entered Jian'Tur space. They told the Jian'Tur about the encroaching alien forces that had destroyed the Tribune of Nurl, and urged them to mobilize their military as soon as possible. The Jian'Tur government, though skeptical of these warnings, soon realized the Nurl were telling the truth when Vuokra fleets struck at Jian'Tur border colonies shortly after the arrival of the Nurl messengers. This attack instantly drew the attention of the Jian'Tur government, who, after several failed attempts at resisting Vuokra incursion, realized that the Vuokra posed an absolute threat not just to the Jian'Tur Federation, but to all organized governments in the Triangulum Galaxy. They contacted the Serphiad Union and rallied numerous other civilizations to their side against the Vuokra, marking the true beginning of the First Vuokra Invasion.

Mobilization and Heavy Losses (425,000 - 420,000 B.C.E.)
While the combined forces of The Cluster mobilized for war against an extragalactic threat, the Vuokra continued their ferocious assaults against the inhabitants of the Triangulum Galaxy. Though the forces of the Jian'Tur Federation were now being bolstered by the aid of the Mavlorvii Alliance and Council of Cylkym, they were still laughably inferior to the inexhaustibly numerous, technologically-superior fleets of the Vuokra. Vuokra Voidmetal, in particular, was the greatest advantage Red Six Trillion had in their conflict against the inhabitants of the Triangulum Galaxy, as it rendered their ships immune to all but the most powerful weaponry. A majority of the direct attacks launched against Vuokra fleets by Jian'Tur, Mavlorvii and Cylyk forces resulted in total failure. Vuokra ships were simply too large and powerful to be fought on equal terms. This realization terrified the defending forces of the Triangulum Galaxy, but they still chose to keep throwing as much military power as they could at the Vuokra, hoping to delay their fleets and keep them from reaching the critically important core worlds of the defending civilizations while they thought of a better strategy. Obviously, this led to huge losses on behalf of the defenders, and strained their economies as they desperately tried to match the insurmountable numerical advantage Vuokra forces wielded. The morale of the defending armies civilizations was rapidly crushed in the face of routine defeats, but it was obvious that surrender was not an option. Likewise, these civilizations had no choice but to fight Red Six Trillion with everything they had.

Though the Vuokra posed a clear threat to all intelligent life in the Triangulum Galaxy, there were some races that were unwilling to contribute to the war effort, either due to apathy or fear. Much to the dismay of the Jian'Tur Federation, the Third Eohli dissolved very shortly after their colonies came under the attack of the Vuokra. Having experienced several Vuokra invasions in the past, the Delth knew that the Vuokra could not be defeated, even with the combined military forces of several major civilizations. Once again, they boarded their gigantic cylindrical spaceships and left Triangulum in search of a safer galaxy far beyond The Cluster. This greatly upset the civilizations they left behind, who thought the Delth were cowards for running away from a war in which their technological supremacy and excellent mobility would have made them an excellent ally. The Delth, though they admired the bravery of these civilizations, knew their fight against the Vuokra was futile, and felt a sense of pity for them. While none can say whether or not the contributions of the Delth would have made a difference in the First Vuokra Invasion, it is widely known that this abandonment left the surviving races of the Triangulum Galaxy with a deep sense of resentment for the Delth, especially the Jian'Tur, who had considered them relatively close allies for many millennia prior.

Of course, the migration of the Delth was the least of their concerns. The absence of Delth defenses in the Inward Crescent gave Vuokra forces a new path into the rapidly shrinking territory of the Jian'Tur Federation. In addition to this, more Vuokra motherships were emerging near the outer edges of the Triangulum Galaxy, closing in on the Mavlorvii Alliance and Council of Cylkym from all sides. It wasn't long before these two civilizations collapsed, leaving the Jian'Tur to fend for themselves against a powerful, ever-growing alien army.

Shifting Strategies and the Navrynth Incursion (420,000 - 413,000)
Fortunately for the Jian'Tur, the Serphiad Union had been quietly mobilizing their troops within the safety of the Andromeda Galaxy in preparation for a retaliatory strike against the Vuokra. Though they were inherently pacifistic, the Serphiads realized that the Vuokra could not be reasoned with, and had to be destroyed if their society was to survive. The Serphiad Union concentrated and organized the forces of its tributary army within the Serphiad core worlds in the Andromeda Galaxy. Though RST motherships were starting to launch incursions into Andromeda, as well, they were not of the same intensity as the attacks in the Triangulum Galaxy, and, for now, the Vuokra were being kept at bay by the ruthless Limnin Army and the supporting forces of the Serphiad Union's tributary armies. Eventually, the Serphiad Union's tributary army came to the aid of the Jian'Tur Federation, pushing the Vuokra away from Jian'Tur core territory and giving the Jian'Tur the breathing room they needed to regroup and assess the situation. The Jian'Tur realized that they would have to adapt their strategies if they wanted to stand a chance against the Vuokra. Fighting the Vuokra armadas head-on led only to defeat. If they wanted to stop RST's incursion once and for all, they would have to perform a tactical strike at the core of the Vuokra fleets: the RST motherships. By destroying the motherships, the Jian'Tur could cripple the Vuokra armadas by depriving them of resources and reducing their shipbuilding capabilities. The motherships, of course, were not easy targets. They were the size of large stars and had enough firepower to obliterate entire enemy fleets within minutes. In addition to the heavy losses they had sustained during previous fights with the Vuokra, the Jian'Tur military was technologically inferior to even the tributary fleet of the Serphiad Union. Both of these problems were very apparent to the Vim'Nil Supreme General Overlord Buq-Buq Navrynth, who was desperately seeking a way to improve the space forces of the Jian'Tur military. Navrynth saw the potential in Serphiad cyborganic engineering and how it could be repurposed for warfare, and took it upon himself to incorporate said technology into Jian'Tur fleets. Using cyborganic creatures, the Jian'Tur enhanced their spacecraft with weaponry and defensive technologies that could think and adapt just like living things, giving them immediate advantages over static Vuokra military technology. The remaining centers of Jian'Tur civilization put all of their resources towards constructing a new generation of Jian'Tur warships, which were sent to the innermost regions of Jian'Tur territory to be organized into massive armadas. With his new fleets, Navrynth sought to attack the RST motherships directly in a large, multi-stage military campaign known as the Navrynth Incursion. His time to prepare was limited, however, as the tributary fleets of the Serphiad Union were falling rapidly to the unending onslaught of Vuokra forces. To save what was left of the Jian'Tur Federation, it was imperative that Navrynth send out his forces sooner rather than later.

Once the Jian'Tur had amassed enough forces, they launched their fleets directly into the Blackwaste, the heart of the Vuokra fleets. Though the Navrynth Incursion failed to cripple Vuokra forces significantly, and was ultimately inconsequential, it did buy the Union's tributary fleet enough time to retreat back to Andromeda. Many of the Jian'Tur Federation's wealthier inhabitants followed suit, abandoning the Jian'Tur Federation in search of sanctuary in the Andromeda Galaxy. Navrynth himself was one of these refugees, escaping to core Serphiad territory shortly after sending out the last of the Jian'Tur fleets. He knew that, with the almost entirety of the Jian'Tur military off fighting the Vuokra in the Blackwaste, the Jian'Tur Federation itself was practically defenseless. The retreat of the Serphiad Union's tributary army would allow Vuokra fleets to easily penetrate deep into Jian'Tur territory and destroy their core colonies. Thus, to preserve Jian'Tur culture, it would be necessary for the wealthiest and most influential members of the Jian'Tur Federation to escape to a safer location far outside of the Triangulum Galaxy. This, of course, came as quite a shock to the Jian'Tur public, who saw this migration as an example of the cowardice and apathy of their government. Left to die among the ruins of the Jian'Tur Federation, the hopeless masses were easily destroyed when the Vuokra fleets finally breached Jian'Tur defenses and began to attack their inward colonies directly. The Jian'Tur military fared no better, as they were trapped out in the Blackwaste with nowhere else to go. To survive, they resorted to using their cyborganic technology to turn themselves into a race of barbaric cyborganic creatures, eventually coming to be known as the Cleanser Swarms.

A New Enemy Appears: Rise of the Black Sect (413,000 - 405,000 B.C.E.)
As the fighting raged on in the Triangulum Galaxy, a new threat emerged in the distant and isolated Milky Way Galaxy. This area of The Cluster had remained largely beneath the notice of the Vuokra, who were preoccupied with their fighting in the Triangulum and Andromeda galaxies. The Serphiad Union's presence in this area of space was also minimal, as they had very few direct colonies, and only a single tributary state, the Vralminiir Regime. Likewise, the presence of advanced technology was too low to attract much attention from the Vuokra, but due to their increasing presence in The Cluster, Vuokra scouts did eventually visit the MWG. Their numbers were not great enough to cause much damage, but the aftermath of their visit would prove to be much more destructive. Several prominent figures within the Infinity Guild saw the arrival of the Vuokra as a significant religious event, tying it into the teachings of the Only Hierophant and the prophecies he had unveiled to some of his most trusted Black Witnesses. A Black Witness known as Fykela began to gain tremendous prestige within the Infinity Guild, forming a derivative religion known as the Black Sect. The Black Sect, though much smaller than the Infinity Guild, posed a great risk to the other inhabitants of the Milky Way Galaxy due to their religious convictions. This derivative religion operated by the philosophy that one's devotion to Black Infinity could be deepened by emulating the behavior of the Vuokra, who were considered divine beings. This, of course, meant that the proponents of this religion had to be extremely violent towards anyone and anything that was not a part of the Black Sect. Under Fykela's guidance, huge Black Sect fleets traveled to the Spur Trinity through the Golden Crescent, evading and/or destroying any White Qutixma forces that got in their way. Fykela knew that fighting the Infinity Guild was suicide, both for her and her newfound religion. However, the Vralminiir Regime and Polcaran Colonies seemed to be easy targets, which is what prompted the Black Sect's invasion of the Spur Trinity around 413,000 B.C.E.

Since the tributary fleet of the Serphiad Union was preoccupied with defending Serphiad territory from an increasingly dangerous Vuokra incursion into the Andromeda Galaxy, the Vralminiir and Polcaran were on their own when it came to resisting Black Sect invasion. The Polcaran Colonies were the first to be attacked, due to their closer proximity to the Golden Crescent. Their limited militarization and technological inferiority made it easy for the Black Sect to sweep through Polcaran territory and destroy them in a relatively short period of time. The Vralminiir gave the Polcaran no backup during this time, treating them more as a barrier that offered the Vralminiir Regime more time to prepare its forces. When the Black Sect finally reached the edge of Vralminiir space, they were ready, resisting their attacks with powerful AI-controlled fleets. Unfortunately, the forces of the Vralminiir could not defend against the Black Sect forever. Fykela was unwavering in her commitment to wiping out all traces of advanced civilization, and through continuous attacks on Vralminiir territory, she wore down the defenses of the Regime, drawing ever closer to their core colonies. The state of the Vralminiir Regime eventually mirrored that the Jian'Tur Federation a stark few millennia ago, but this time, there would be no extragalactic reinforcements to save them. Soon enough, the great reign of the Vralminiir was put to an end by Fykela and her tremendous armies. The Black Sect, having completed their brutal campaign in the Spur Trinity, returned to the Guild Expanse, and eventually disintegrated and was reabsorbed into the Infinity Guild as the Vuokra invasion died down.

Facing Extinction: The Birth of Tixax (405,000 - 400,000 B.C.E.)
At this point in the war, both the Triangulum Galaxy and Milky Way Galaxy had been overrun by hostile forces bent on destroying the Serphiad Union and all those affiliated with it. Conflict was moving into the Andromeda Galaxy as more Vuokra motherships arrived on the outskirts of the galaxy and sent wave after wave of Vuokra forces towards the centers of Serphiad civilization. Both the Limnin Army and tributary fleet of the Serphiad Union were exhausted after millennia of fighting against the endless Vuokra fleets, and it seemed as though victory would go to Red Six Trillion after all. With their army in shambles, the Serphiads desperately sought alternative ways of stopping the Vuokra. They turned to their cyborganic technology for answers, creating Dris in an ultimately futile effort to better understand Vuokra physiology. The Serphiads even went as far as to experiment with time travel, building the Reemergence Engine. These experiments, of course, never went anywhere. It would appear as though, even despite all of their technological marvels, the Serphiads could not hope to defeat the Vuokra. However, a faint glimmer of salvation appeared when Avsula of Ritl came to the Union's Whitetech scientists with a proposition. Avsula told them of the existence of an immensely powerful alien entity contained within the Timeless Vault that could save their civilization from destruction. With few options left, the Serphiad government agreed to let Avsula direct them to the Timeless Vault, where they recovered Tii, an ancient Myrevi that had been trapped inside of the vault since time immemorial. After they successfully recovered Tii, Avusla guided the greatest scientists of the Serphiad Union in their efforts to use Tii's incredible powers against the Vuokra, sharing his strangely prolific knowledge of the entity. With Avsula's help, Serphiad scientists merged Tii with a powerful cyborganic computer to create Tixax, the single greatest technological achievement of the Serphiad Union. Using its latent mastery over matter and energy, Tixax sealed all remaining Vuokra forces in a pocket dimension instantaneously, finally putting an end to the vicious First Vuokra Invasion.

Their ability to stop the Vuokra attacks might make it seem as though the Serphiads won this war, but the aftermath of the First Vuokra Invasion proved otherwise. Almost every defending civilization collapsed shortly after the invasion concluded, if they hadn't been outright destroyed by Red Six Trillion. Many venerable species, including the Serphiads, Jian'Tur and Vralminiir, had been functionally erased from the course of history through the collapse of their associated civilizations. Even though the Vuokra hadn't completed their destructive rampage through The Cluster, they had done enough damage to completely shift the political dynamic of all three galaxies. This is what marked the end of the prosperous and peaceful Ice Epoch and the beginning of the turbulent Carbon Epoch, which would come to be dominated by new civilizations that would wage war in new struggles for supremacy. However, the legacies of the civilizations destroyed in the First Vuokra Invasion persisted for many millennia afterwards. Old artifacts continued to puzzle and terrify subsequent civilizations, while the histories of these dead empires, now reduced to scattered fragments, served as silent, enigmatic reminders of the terrible fate that awaited any civilization blinded by its own hubris.

War Technology
Being a war that involved so many different civilizations, the technology featured in the First Vuokra Invasion was incredibly diverse. The disparity between incomprehensibly advanced Vuokra technology and the comparatively primitive technology of the civilizations they fought. Red Six Trillion made use of most characteristic Vuokra military technology, including Void Guns and Voidmetal. Being more dedicated to destruction than other Vuokra tribes, Red Six Trillion did not invest much into the fancy, experimental weapons being used by other Vuokra tribes, preferring to stick with the simple, but effective offensive and defensive technologies that had stuck with the Vuokra for millions upon millions of years. Their fascination with black holes, however, did give them an incentive to use singularity weapons in combat, which were widely-feared due to their ability to swallow up entire fleets in a matter of seconds. The strange, curly structures built by Red Six Trillion around any black holes they happened to encounter remained long after their exile into a pocket dimension by Tixax, and mystified countless travelers with their size and complexity.

On the other side, the defending civilizations of The Cluster made full use of whatever unique technological achievements they had access to in an effort to defeat the Vuokra. The Jian'Tur, prior to their adoption of Serphiad cyborganic technology into their fleets, made great use of their tough Bul'Bumum armor, even though said armor did little to protect their ships against Vuokra Void Guns. The Vralminiir Regime used their advanced AI matrices, a technology that had been greatly improved ever since the conclusion of the Platinum War, to strengthen the responsiveness and efficiency of their ships in combat against the Vuokra. The Serphiads incorporated their cyborganic technology into their tributary fleet, creating partially-alive spaceships that could rapidly adapt to combat conditions. Technological development in these civilizations was spurred by the demands of the war, and led to a greater degree of militarization on behalf of the Serphiad Union than ever before.

However, the sheer strength of Vuokra technology rendered most conventional military technologies and tactics obsolete, forcing the defending civilizations to get creative with their weaponry. In addition to their adoption of Serphiad cyborganics, the Jian'Tur experimented with simulated realities in an effort to train their soldiers faster and more efficiently, research that was headed by the mysterious and often controversial Inward Realities Group. The Vralminiir, though having abandoned many of the terrible practices of the Vygen Empire, resurrected old Vygen technology to create the G3 Mercury Generals, who were practically unrivaled in their combat prowess. However, the Serphiads, by far, went the furthest to stop the Vuokra through unconventional means, no doubt due to the technological supremacy they wielded in The Cluster. When their cyborganics failed, the Serphiads turned to all sorts of other things, including advanced quantum science and time travel. Of course, the fact that they used Tii to create Tixax and stop the Vuokra was proof enough that the Serphiads could have never hoped to create technology advanced enough to defeat the Vuokra on their own, and that, sooner or later, they would have had to rely on the artifacts of previous civilizations.

Battle of Ar'Ghamo (424,873 B.C.E.)
First major battle between Red Six Trillion forces and the Jian'Tur military. A Red Six Trillion fleet, headed by numerous large battlecruisers, moved in to attack the Jian'Tur colony of Ar'Ghamo, and were immediately engaged by a large Jian'Tur fleet comprised of several siege cruisers and destroyers. Long-range Void Gun projectiles destroyed most of the Jian'Tur forces before the Vuokra ships got in firing range of the Jian'Tur fleet. Planetary ground-to-space defenses were activated, but were unable to deal significant damage against the Vuokra forces. No losses were suffered by the Vuokra forces. Ar'Ghamo and all of its defenders were completely destroyed.

Battle of M302833 (415,202 B.C.E.)
Significant battle during the Navrynth Incursion, during which a Red Six Trillion mothership was destroyed by Jian'Tur forces. Five Jian'Tur fleets, each equipped with a variety of anti-capital weaponry, assaulted an RST mothership directly. Aside from the defensive fleets contained within its hangers, the mothership was alone and susceptible to attack. Concentrated fire at a single point on the mothership's hull allowed the Jian'Tur fleets to breach through its Voidmetal armor and make their way towards the dark energy reactors at its core. Upon destruction, these cores caused a destructive chain reaction that disintegrated the mothership and scattered its defensive fleets. The Jian'Tur forces, though they had sustained heavy losses, were victorious.

Battle of Vral Redaan (411,157 B.C.E.)
Major battle between Black Sect forces and a Vralminiir fleet, in orbit around the Vralminiir colony of Vral Redaan. A Black Sect fleet, headed by a single Darkmaw Generator, began attacking Vral Redaan from orbit, which prompted a retaliation from the colony's planetary defenses. A Vralminiir fleet soon arrived to defend the colony, directing their fire towards the Darkmaw Generator and Black Sect siege cruisers. Continuous fighting between the Black Sect fleet and Vralminiir fleet lasted for over four days, until the planetary infrastructure on Vral Redaan had been almost completely destroyed by orbital bombardment. The remaining Black Sect forces were transported by the Darkmaw Generator out of orbit and further into Vralminiir territory, escaping the grasp of the Vralminiir fleet that had engaged them.

Battle of Icolos (404,693 B.C.E.)
One of the only ground battles that took place in the First Vuokra Invasion, on the surface of the Serphiad colony Icolos. A powerful defensive shield network protected the planet from orbital bombardment, forcing the Vuokra to send ground forces in to destroy the planetary defenses directly. Several Avarian Masses were deployed to the planet surface, aided by a single gargantuan Tride. The amorphous nature of the Avarian Masses prevented ground defenses from doing much damage against them, so most military efforts were concentrated on destroying the Tride. Though heavily damage, the Tride survived through the entirety of the battle, while the Avarian Masses consumed a majority of the planetary defenses, including the planetary shield generators, allowing orbital bombardment to commence. Eventually, Icolos was completely destroyed.