Codex: The Human-Ocpodle war
PRELUDE TO WARWith the advent of the first moduler factories, many of the smaller nations were able to develop an industrial base to allow the procurement of wealth, combined with the commissioning of spaceships from the major powers, gave them a foothold into space.These small nations wanted to have the same power as their stronger neighbors or wanted back their old way of life without having to rely on them for support, and space colonization was the path towards that goal. However, every planet nearby was either uninhabitable or controlled by the major powers of the time, so they went outward towards a cluster of systems only partly owned by direct benefactors of the Russo-Sino trading group. These small nations were composed of colony houses, the most active of which were house Bankowski and house Koistinen.Unfortunately, these planets were terraformed and set for colonization by the Ocpodle due to their proximity, with the Ocpodle empire and Russo-Sino trading group warning against settling them. But they pressed onwards, thinking they were jealous of their gains as small nations. Over time, they continued to take over Ocpodle worlds, developing them at Human standards at the expense of local environments, including the destruction of Gradivdel trees, a sacred treasure in Ocpodle culture. Making the Ocpodle furious, they demanded these worlds taken back through force and their Human inhabitants evicted or worse, with the feafun agreeing to a military response. Except for ten, the most vocal was Vervsed Neax, stating that the conflict could spread to their joint waystation with the Russo-Sino trading group, prompting war with every Human group in the galaxy and destroying their bountiful trade. Members of the vortunu and raydellia also voiced opposition along similar mindsets, with vortunu Gerzvec Hengal refusing to allow military presence on his planet.On the other side, the major powers and primary members of the Russo-Sino trading group (US, Russia, China, India, Germany, Mars) and the other colony houses put pressure and pleaded with their smaller neighbors to quit antagonizing the Ocpodle, but through arrogance and the lack of widespread FTL communication, the colonized worlds continued to agitate the Ocpodle through their conquest; additionally, many of the governors and nobles in charge of these worlds wished to become rulers of their own nation, and saw these colonies as an opportunity to establish their empire.With both sides putting pressure on these colonies, they sought to distract them by pitting them against each other, devising a plan of hijacking an FTL ship from the waystation and slinging it towards an Ocpodle world. From the twenty-second to the twenty-eight of July 678 CM, an FTL ship impacted the Ocpodle nesting world of Gervunuc, destroying the surface and wiping out the ecosystem instantly.Virtually, the plan worked as the Ocpodle declared war on the nations of Earth; what was not expected was the assassination of feafun members by the ambitious colonies, resulting in their presence in the Ocpodle's sights, followed by the Ocpodle declaring war of extermination on the entirety of humanity. Thus begins the Human-Ocpodle conflict.OUTER TERRITORIES AND INDUSTRIAL SPACE DEFENCEThe Ocpodle began recruiting their men into the new galactic army, its forces the largest ever seen in Ocpodle history, while they sent one hundred omni-herstun (standard Ocpodle forces) to fight the Euro-Dyne in the contested territory zone. The omni-herstun were beaten back, but at the cost of thousands for the Europeans, this being a constant case till September 30th, the newly made Ocpodle army rushed through, conquering the one dozen systems by June 15th in 679 CM.The planet/waystation of Dionysius did not fare much better, but through mass drivers, laser propulsion, and other industrial facilities, they managed to destroy several ships, such as their transport saucers and Cxer cylinders.For the powers within the Russo-Sino trading group, they were not fully aware of the declaration of genocide till just a month before taking the contested zone, and with them using little to no military spaceships (except for the US Mars and European Knight league) and began to scramble an army for interstellar conflict. In the meantime, they followed the planet Dionysius' example and used industrial assets in fighting the Ocpodle, combined with the treatment of civilians and military alike by the Ocpodle, reinforces the idea of an engineer or mass driver mechanic acting as an armed combatant as the average soldier.By July 4th, the Ocpodle invaded the heavy element mining facility in the Meng Yao asteroid field in the Alyosha system; the Chinese miners held them off for six days before succumbing to starvation using improvised equipment, including nuclear explosives, depth charges, Exo-skeletons, and rail-gun assisted javelins. Around the same time, they invaded the Esfir system; the workers lasted three months, thanks to the Dyson swarm network and magnetic accelerator cannons.Based on these invasions and the Ocpodle's way of thinking, the Ocpodle will eat away at the periphery both near and away from their space before attacking the inner systems and then push through towards the sol system.SCHEMATICS AND THE EXO-FRAMEUntil the last thirty years, FTL communications were rare due to its secrets remaining undiscovered before experiments in etheric tunneling; following this, ships had a similar rarity due to risks in transporting live crew and an overreliance on cultivation ships, resulting in self-sufficiency and semi-independence for colonies, meaning any world's ability to withstand an Ocpodle invasion was dependant on their age and industrial build-up. Regardless, every power had to create a fleet and logistical support to defend their combined holdings of over 1200 systems.One noticeable aspect of fighting Ocpodle is their superiority in infantry combat. They are three meters tall, capable of flight, lifting multi-ton objects, and quick multi-tasking, making them difficult enemies to fight with standard Human equipment while making Humans easy prey. Even one poorly trained and equipped can kill up to a hundred humans alone, while an omni-herstun can kill a thousand.To give themselves an edge on the Ocpodle, Humans developed exoskeletons, laser weapons, and mag weapons and sent schematics to the colonies to make them for local armies. However, to truly create something to give humanity equal footing, they must create a new body, an extension of a person, and found it in promising new ether technologies and a scout and mining suit used on Venus. The exo-frame.The exo-frame is a mecha armor suit controlled through the user's brain, utilizing inertial reduction and ether manipulation tech for increased speed, carbon-boron muscles for strength, the ability to fly through the ether, and mighty weapons to counteract the Ocpodle forces. Since the exo-frame came from existing tech, development came easy except through increased acceleration and ether propulsion; many test pilots suffered fractures and internal organ failure from driving them before working out the system. After two months of testing, production began on September 8th, and by October 3rd, 1500 exo-frames, along with their pilots, traveled to the occupied world of Beauregard. While the battle and exo-frame were considered successful, only 30 pilots survived, and the Ocpodle was still present within the system.CONTINUED CONFLICT COLONY HOUSES AND INNOVATIONOver the years, the Ocpodle continued to invade and conquer Human worlds despite the new technologies employed by Humans; any Human that doesn't escape dies by their tendrils. Thankfully, the Ocpodle had poor supply lines as they never had such big armies before, relying on scavenged equipment or local resource to resupply, which through the efforts of general Yurga Caxcu, made great use of in keeping some readiness against Human worlds.Humans took advantage of this break by reinforcing their worlds, followed by sending strike teams against the supplying ships for sabotage operations and information on technology, further stalling the invasion and gaining knowledge on their anti-gravity tech at the cost of hundreds of lives.Following this, they further developed new exo-frames and innovative technologies, such as hardening gel for halting the movement of troops, rotary rifles, and second-generation exo-frames and warships.Another advantage is manufacturing. The major powers, especially China, Russia, and Germany, could produce anything needed for the war effort with little effect on civilian populations, with the downside of any world becoming a supply zone for Ocpodle forces if or when they take one.The Ocpodle also have innovations, particularly in tactics, such as keeping fixed positions and fighting at long range, followed by developing submersible equipment to overcome their limitations in water environments, a hard lesson learned from the battle of Herz.Regardless of their advances, both sides continue to amass massive casualties, the Ocpodle at 956.257.000 while Humans at 25.938.800.000, with the Ocpodle having the numerical advantage and producing more kids than Humans despite their longer growth rate. To counteract this, they utilized robots, followed by noble troopers from the colony houses, to supplement their forces and defend other colony worlds from the Ocpodle. Some of the colony houses would take advantage of this to spread their influence and power onto their neighbors, with the likes of house Adamson trying to gain access to heavy metal deposits on Belmont or house Afflerbach controlling the ocean world of Oldrich. Nonetheless, their noble troopers have been helpful in fighting against the Ocpodle's omni-herstun.Another military force used by the Humans is mercenaries, such as the newly made magma grizzlies and the sunshine tall tails, followed by the older iron ceres and cosmic tarantula.THE THREE-PRONGED ADVANCEThe war had been going on for 17 years; after the initial success of the Ocpodle invasion of the periphery, the Ocpodle and Humans were dead-locked in a standstill, thanks to the efforts of the Russo-Sino trading group and withholding information on locations from the Ocpodle.However, seeing this, combined with information gathered on world positions, galactic wah scveba Freng Xezsban orders his subordinates to lead two invasion groups to two different areas of Human space while the third stays at the current front. So began the three-pronged advance.In a panic, the Humans began trying to reinforce their worlds in these zones, but the Ocpodle were taking worlds faster than they would get to them, and it seemed that Human space and its industry would shrink by half if not for two factors; the battle of Martel and house Bellerose.THE BATTLE OF MARTELMartel was a gas giant in the Alexavier system, home to a joint French-German shipyard, the kernfusion company, and various locations for pilots on leave. If this world were to fall into enemy hands, not only would another world be lost, but also a vital part of the war effort, prompting any ships nearby and from other theaters to give aid.The Ocpodle expected the planet to be heavily fortified, which made them send most of their forces, including Urgats siege warriors. However, in addition to fleets for defense, they encountered the viper legion.The viper legion was both a fleet and exo-frame army from the planet Barnat, a planet along with its colony house lost to the Ocpodle early in the war, who had volunteered and assisted in almost every battle or operation to gain revenge on the Ocpodle, fighting with such ferocity and vigor that they instilled fear within the enemy. The Ocpodle nicknamed them Czerham, violent spirits of Ocpodle mythology.The viper legion joined the defense fleet in defending Martel and led them after their commander died with his ship, using spherical sniper tactics, ships headed by workers, and any unmanned used as improvised kinetic kill vehicles against the Ocpodle. Eventually, the viper legion and defense fleet retreated into the gas giant itself, the Ocpodle following soon after, both sides constantly fighting thanks to the hydrogen atmosphere powering their machines, suffering casualties from each other and the environment; giving the battle names "the stamina duel" or "hell's skies."Though very damaged and with numerous deaths amongst the Human fleet; the shipyard survived against the Ocpodle, and with other forces arriving, the first Ocpodle group was stopped; unbeknownst to them, though, another factor that drove the Ocpodle off was a planet belonging to a colony house.HOUSE BELLEROSEThe planet Cloe and, by extension, house Bellerose was not a powerful colony, having little resources, small as Mars, and a thick ammonia atmosphere, and had been jealous, especially towards its brother house Borgatti on the planet Bijou several light-years away, causing competition with house Bellerose punching above its status and doing things seen insane by other powers, even building facilities on asteroid stricken Guo to show they could do it.Learning of an impending invasion, the head of house Bellerose, Corbin, began to evacuate his population from Cloe and improvised all his house's creations for battle. Turning their old dueling exo-hulks into anti-air emplacements, cannons, and solar arrays into interstellar weapons, and attaching probes to asteroids to act as powerful projectiles, even given exo-frames by house Borgatti, along with taking in Corbin's people and family.By March 22nd, 693 CM, the Ocpodle came into the system and hit unrelentingly through a barrage of the sun's light, hundreds of particle beam bolts, and asteroids moving at fractions of light speed, annihilating hundreds of Ocpodle ships and thousands of Ocpodle personnel, to where they called for reinforcements from the battle group on Martel to help. It was only through sniper tactics and dropping ships on Guo that they had destroyed the outer defense line.Hours later, they arrived at Cloe in orbit over the city of Dash, the home of house Bellerose and its castle, and with it came a welcome of anti-air from turrets and Durant exo-hulks, followed by a barrage of missiles and Keandre exo-frames piloted by noble troopers from house Bellerose and Borgatti supported by auxiliaries.The battle within Dash lasted for hours, the noble troopers suffering losses but ensuring they took hundreds of Ocpodle soldiers with them despite only having a combined force of 50 men; it was only through carpet bombing that the Ocpodle killed all but five, including Corbin, who retreated within the underground system below the castle.The Ocpodle continued chasing Corbin and his forces through the castle, facing off against automatic defenses, traps, machines, and additional auxiliaries before reaching him at a control switch, killing his men and mortally wounding him. Right before dealing the final blow, Corbin activated a command that released cell divider gas; a bio-weapon that breaks down carbon organisms on a cellular level, which the Ocpodle were exposed to as they could breathe the ammonia atmosphere, followed by the detonation of several nuclear explosives below the city, unleashing multi-megaton blasts that along with the ignited air vaporized or melted any surviving Ocpodle forces in their ships. Today the Ocpodle learned the lunatic passion of house Bellerose.While the planet was still lost, the utter shock and awe the Ocpodle faced had stopped their advance, crippled their forces, and made them retreat to controlled territory, giving Human worlds a chance to reinforce and organize campaigns to retake systems lost from the three-pronged advance.The French and house Borgatti honored him posthumously with medals for his sacrifice, gifted to his 9-year-old son Lovett, who decades later would return to the planet Cloe to rebuild, including the creation of a new city he named new Corbin.THE SHERMAN FLEETEven with the miracle victories, Humans had through the war; they were still at a stalemate amounting casualties, with the Ocpodle using desperate measures like suicide attacks and orbital ship drops, and while the Ocpodle's logistical support was chaotic, it would eventually build up to full strength, allowing the chance for the Ocpodle to push through and overrun Human space.To gain an edge and prevent their supply lines from building up, the US organized a fleet of over 400 ships designed to destroy Ocpodle planets and infrastructure to travel into Ocpodle space to use WMDs against anything they encountered on their way to Hazulie, the Ocpodle homeworld; performing this operation also had the hope of procuring peace through gunboat diplomacy. They named the fleet after Sherman, the Union major general who did a similar campaign against the Confederates.The fleet began its travel on November 10th, 693, and reached the Vernbkain system on July 31st, 694, over the planet Dermiu and proceeded to glass its surface with nuclear and rail gun salvos before moving on. This kept going for months, the Sheerman fleet destroying any Ocpodle planet or station they came across, whether civilian cities, factories, nursery worlds, shipyards; they annihilated it while constantly moving to avoid encounters with Ocpodle defenses, and any encountered were met with destruction by supporting frigates.By December 21st of the same year, the Ocpodle halted the fleet's advance in the Xercble system; any ship that didn't fall to attacks or disrepair made their last stand here, fighting each other for days before the Sherman fleet perished on December 30th. While the fleet didn't reach Hazulie, they were able to cause incredible damage to dozens of worlds and, in a way, set the stage for the final years of the war.THE OCPODLE CIVIL WARBefore the Ocpodle-Human war, the Ocpodle empire was on the brink of collapse from a drastic demographic change, advances in breeding technology allowed for an almost even number of males and females, but social conventions didn't change, resulting in only 10% of Ocpodle males having wives, combined with owning no land and a carrier or profession, led to Ocpodle men leaving to form male-only enclaves, develop societies intended to make their wives or starting revolutions.The Feafun were under pressure, seeing the average male citizen and some females demand social change. At the same time, some raydellia wanted a crushing end to this uprising, fearing their heads would roll from violating their sworn duty to the people or from angering and losing the head owners of industry. That is until tensions rosed with nearby Euro-Dyne colonists, followed by the destruction of an Ocpodle planet and 10 assassinated Feafun members, all of whom were opposed to a war, which rallied the Ocpodle population together and focused their anger against the Humans. It was convenient, too convenient.While the war stabilized domestic tensions, there were several cases involving new male recruits destroying military installations and "accidentally" killing officers, along with a supreme lack of discipline and organization followed up by incompetent commanders early in the war, which led to Freng Xezsban put into command of the entire war, putting a sense of military atmosphere into the situation.Disorder in rank aside, it was clear from the outset that the Ocpodle were not prepared nor designed to supply an interstellar army on par with other species while sustaining their civilians; soldiers barely had enough weapons or armor while citizens suffered famines and dying or underdeveloped children, causing civil unrest and an end to the war. The actions of the Sherman fleet only accelerated this unrest into full-blown civil war; further chaos sowed from an information leak showing that the assassination of feafun members over 17 years ago was an inside job and knew the Russo-Sino trading group didn't launch the ship attack on Gervunuc but said they did to unite the population and genocide chunks of their male population to stabilize their society.At one point, as if poetic justice, a group of distressed females who lost their husband, sons, and oipseen killed the feafuns with suicide bombings, causing the military, raydellia, and other Ocpodle groups to fight over control of their space.FRENG XEZSBANBorn in 627, Freng Xezsban was the son of Nerllux Xezsban, a leader of a merchant fleet who helped grow and set up connections for several Ocpodle worlds, making him and, by extension, his son popular with the people.But Freng Xezsban wasn't just living in his father's shadow; he also worked as an envoy for worlds governed by vortunu, a vortunu himself, and finally, a military commander who, after the failure of previous commanders in Human space, was asked to lead the campaign. He accepted but wanted to choose his subordinates; he was able to pick all but one of them, the exception being Aanzin Vergy, a fanatic whose relatives in high places wanted to give him a powerful position that Freng in his journal described as "an incompetent yes man who will doom this war and my objectives."Throughout the years and the lead-up to the war, Freng, from his experience, knew that the current government was corrupt and their inability to change in response to technological advances or from a war of attrition would collapse the empire; so he picked a group of like-minded yet competent people, and used the war in Human space as a backdrop to build up his power, and lead his troops to restore order and revive the empire when it falls.When word got out of the Sherman fleet and the chaos in Ocpodle space, it was Freng's chance to establish his government, build up their strength, make peace, and begin the charge back to his home after the civil war. It almost worked if not for an "incompetent yes man."THE SOL BLOOD RAGE AND BATTLE OF PLUTOWhen Freng told his subordinates and forces what was happening back home, feelings of shock, surprise, and fear flashed within them, with him giving the option for any to see to their families to head back, nearly 50.000 left while the rest stayed.Upon his stating, they would make peace with Humans to build themselves for the eventual control of Ocpodle space in exchange for systems matching that of what the Humans destroyed. Such a statement brought objections within the ranks before calming down through the terms and discipline of Freng's officers, except for Aanzin Vergy, who, with a cult following from his troops, objected to the peace deal and continued to fight onwards.Under ideal circumstances, Freng wouldn't care about this mutiny, as they would easily fall without their support, and he wished not for these fanatics to exist within his society. However, with information gleaned from the voyager probe, Aanzin started his crusade on the Sol system, sabotaging and leaving occupied territories defenseless for Humans wishing them back. Freng knew if the home of humanity and its powers were to fall, the Human support structure would collapse and cause the colony houses to descend into a neverending war of bloodshed between the Ocpodle and each other. So, with a body of picked men, Freng began chasing after Aanzin towards Sol while his forces dealt with Ocpodle rebels and Humans taking advantage of the weak defenses.On April 4th, 695, Aazin's forces arrived in the Sol system at Pluto, sending only a portion of them to soften the defending Humans before hitting them with kinetic kill vehicles, leaving only three orbital stations, 120 aerospace fighters, 200 exo-frames, and 5 exo-hulks to defend the outer solar system.Much like the battle of Martel, the Human crews defended the world constantly from the ongoing Ocpodle onslaught, barely sleeping nor eating from hours upon hours of brutal fighting, but were slowly beginning to whittle down on pilots and supplies, with any inbound either destroyed or confiscated. It seemed like all was lost for the Pluto people until images captured on screen showed ships painted with serpents.The viper legion followed the trail of Aazin's fleet to Pluto to aid in its defense, making an entrance by ramming into the Ocpodle ships with theirs and unloading their exo-frame crews to fight alongside the Pluto group. After 30 days of fighting, the battle ended after Freng killed Aazin and got his men under control.After Freng dealt with Aazin, he established contact and wished to discuss peace; that alone took hours of convincing them to stop fighting, finally leading to negotiations on Earth between Freng and the Russo-Sino trading group.In his original terms, Freng would give peace in exchange for 50 systems of his choosing. Once he saw the Earth in person, though, encased in its beauty, seeing the animal life, and feeling the touch of mountains, it was like Hazulie; combined with knowing that Ocpodle civilians would flee their homes and need a place, he decided to include the control of Earth in his deal, with any Humans present to leave within two years. This lapse of greed camouflaged in noble intentions would doom the beauty he admired and his descendants centuries later. On the Human side, leaders were appalled at his demand for Earth; some even wished to keep fighting the Ocpodle since they were at their weakest. However, others argued that the war would still cost them even if the Ocpodle were vulnerable, and as leaders, they must do what's best for their people to stop this bloodshed and at least ensure their people across space survive.Regardless, both sides knew Mars was another interstellar Human power and would be around to keep Human space in check despite sour relations between the two nations on the planet.On August 21rst, 696CM, the Human-Ocpodle war officially ended.AFTERMATHAfter over 18 years of interstellar conflict, the war would end with Humans having over 28.765.238.096 deaths and over 500 star systems lost, while the Ocpodle would have lost 16.456.078.234 people and 37 star systems.Any nation on Earth capable of manufacturing or purchasing a ship did so, hastily making as many as possible to get people off the planet, leading to these vessels suffering malfunctions, radiation leaks, power loss, and explosions during the post-war diaspora. Any Human unlucky enough to leave was either killed, turned into an object, or retreated into the ocean via abandoned mining and defense facilities that would become the sea nations.Some fleets of the diaspora would be absorbed into the colony houses (if matching their ethnic group), set up colonies through first contact and support from the Oxccy, or continue to travel the stars. While the latter two would slowly change from their Earth ancestors, they would still have a connection with the planet and its traditions through lore keepers, particularly those in EKL remnants within Euro-Dyne ships.Upon realization of the Earth's abandonment and being one of the few interstellar powers left, the two nations on Mars set aside their racial conflict and united into the Cydo-Euro-Dyne Federation (later the empire) to establish a presence outside the Sol system.Some prolific colony houses would take advantage of the power vacuum left by their parent Earth nations to expand themselves using star systems left by both species, followed by various conflicts over who would become the next successor, Germany or France.While China effectively ceased to exist, thanks to its technology, it would continue to live in all but name only in its colonies.Star systems colonized by US cultivation and passenger ships would establish a pan-American interstellar pact run by the most developed ones, such as Tau-Ceti. House Long would continue to stay a separate nation at this time.Survivors of the Viper legion and populations from Barnat would return to rebuild their world, while others furious at the peace deal would keep fighting as the Schlange pirates.Due to the actions of Aazin and complacency, Freng would not return to Ocpodle space to rebuild it, instead staying to build and rule over what he had conquered; his later descendants centuries later would be the ones to return and bring back the old Ocpodle empire.Back in Ocpodle space, various factions would arise from the empire's collapse, slowly descending into constant warfare and stagnation before Freng's forces led by his descendants would return to conquer them under the old system.
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