Hapan Civil War

The Hapan Civil War (HCW) was a Cluster-wide military conflict that took place between 3946 and 3999, engulfing the entire Hapes Consortium. It was the longest and deadliest conflict in Hapan history, marking the end of the Age of Queen Mothers (Decline Era) and the beginning of the Dark Age. The Dark Age refers to the time period inbetween the outbreak of the Hapan Civil War and the reunification of the Hapes Consortium with the coronation of King Andrew. Technically the Hapes Consortium ceased to exist as a unified governing body for a period of 54 years.

The war was sparked by a disagreement over which of two Princesses should reign as Queen-Mother after their mother's death. The two initial factions of the war were the Draconian Union and the Sword Confederacy. Several other factions arose over the years in a bid for power, but none were of any significance except the shortlived Victory Alliance and the Phoenix Movement. The Phoenix, led by Andrew Starfyre emerged as the victor of the war, following the signing of the Gallinore Accords at the Gallinore Conferance of 3999.

The war caused the downfall of numerous noble houses and a major shift in power within the Hapes Cluster following the conflict, with a man becoming the new Sovereign. It also brought about a new wave of technological advancements which provided a great boost to the military forces of the time and afterwards.

Before the war, the Hapes Consortium and its most influencual royalty and nobility had nearly limitless treasuries and wealth beyond most people's imagination. Much of this was spent on machines of war and payment for soldiers. As resources had been depleted on a number of worlds and most industry had been destroyed, the post-war leaders softened up on the isolationism policies in order to import cheap goods from the outside galaxy to help rebuild Hapan society.

Prelude & Causes

After 39 years on the throne Queen Mother Pal'durath VII suffered a stroke and fell in to a deep coma on October 15 3945. Due to a constantly deteriorating condition, her physicians estimated that she had only a few months left to live. When news of this reached the nobility of the Hapes Consortium, debate broke out in every level of Lorell Hall over which Princess should be the Queen Mother's successor. The law stating that the firstborn would automatically assume the throne upon the death of the monarch had been abolished in 3651 by Queen Mother Pal'durath II. This created a very problematic situation for the Hapan government.

Sibling Rivalry

Princess Da'tan was the popular candidate of the more conservative members of the nobility, most notably in the Rifle Worlds and Rim Worlds regions, which she had toured and overseen on behalf of her mother for some time. She had provided additional warships to the fleets of the local nobles, increased funding for armies on those worlds and also showed a devotion to the continuation of a strictly feudal Hapan society. The conservative community argued that while the old law regarding firstborns was no longer in the Laws of the Hapes Consortium, the general idea of the law should apply in such an uncertain case. In more central Hapan regions, she was considered to have tyrannical tendencies and was famous for squandering excessive amounts of credits on spoiling her supporters and bribing Archons and Royal Advisors.

Princess Ta'lan was the younger of the two and quite popular in the Capital and Interior regions of the Hapes Cluster. She supported a more centralized form of government in the Hapes Consortium, wanting to reduce the power and influence that the nobility had on the military. She argued that Hapes Prime should not have to bribe the nobles on more distant worlds to keep them loyal to the ideals of the Hapes Consortium. She was mild mannored and was said to have a "gentle spirit". Her ways were seen as a threat to the old traditional style of Hapes in the eyes of the Rifle-Rim nobles.

The two sister had a troublesome relationship as they had both struggled over the years to become the favorite of their mother, but the root of the dispute was also strongly related to different ideologies and views on Hapan politics. The two openly bickered when they met in Lorell Hall and the Royal Hapan Palace, often resorting to petty name calling and the occasional slap and shove.

The Poll

When it became clear that the Queen Mother had only days left to live, it was decided that the Grand Council of Lorell Hall should vote to determine who was to take the throne. Each Lady of the Hapes Consortium had one vote in the matter. Each of the four Archons were given a vote on behalf of their respective region, each populated world had one vote decided by local polls conducted by the population (the final amount was split in half), and each of the five Royal Advisors were given one vote. The Queen-Mother passed away on February 23 3946 and the Grand Council met the following day to do the official placements of votes.

The poll ended with Princess Ta'lan winning with half a point more than her older sister. The outcome showed that the nobility greatly favoured Princess Da'tanah throughout the Hapes Cluster while Princess Ta'lan was more popular with the Hapan peoples and the neutral advisors.

Princess Da'tan promptly stormed out of the Grand Council chamber, reportedly screaming profanities and shoving guards, nobles and spectators out of her path.

Conspiring Nobility

Formation of the Draconian Union
On February 25 Princess Da'tan met with her biggest and most powerful supporters onboard the Tractia Heavy Cruiser Dream of Darkness, the Princess' private ship, in the Rebo system. Lady Ci'hani of Varn, Lady Olanji of Olanji, Lady Olanji of Charubah and Lady Par'wandi of Rebo were present onboard the ship, while a number of other nobles attended in form of hologram. At this meeting, the nobility loyal to Da'tan entered an alliance with the Princess and pledged their loyalty, fleets, armies and systems to her. Among the things they agreed to was to ensure Da'tan's appointment as Queen-Mother of the Hapes Consortium.

While the loyalty of as many nobles as possible was helpful to Da'tan's cause, no pledge was as important as that of House Olanji. The Olanji sisters were undoubtably some of the most powerful individuals in the Hapes Consortium of the time. Not only did they share governance of the Charu system and the planets Olanji and Charubah, they also owned and controlled the Olanji/Charubah shipyards along with a conglamorate of powerful corporations. Their agreement to help Da'tan's union of planets was most likely what caused most of the other nobility to join in, as it meant a near limitless supply of military ships for the private armadas of the Noble Houses.

Chronology

3946

Assault on Lorell

First Battle of Lorell

"I have just received word from Countess Endala that House Olanji has attacked the Consortium Navy! Prepare for ground assault!"- Last words of Lady Paradoc of the Lorell system.

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Early in the morning of February 27 3946, the joint forces of House Ci'hani, House Olanji and House Par'wandi, known as the Royal Draconian Order, entered the Lorell system. They destroyed all nearby sensor stations before transmitting a signal to Lorell which was received by Countess Tylger. The Countess had Lady Paradoc killed before her operatives deactivated all planetary shield generators and defensive batteries.

House Paradoc's fleet in the Lorell system along with the neutral Consortium Navy forces were taken completely by surprise by the Royal Draconian Order's attack, which led to the loss of hundreds of ships within a matter of minutes. The Order broke a hole in the defending fleet's lines, letting them drop troopships on to Lorell's surface.

Within twelve hours, all major areas of Lorell were under the control of the invaders and the remains of the defending fleet either surrendered, retreated or defected. Princess Da'tan arrived shortly thereafter and met with Lady Ci'hani, Lady Olanji, Lady Par'wandi and Countess Tylger in Avalon. From there she announced the formation of the Draconian Union and the defeat of Princess Ta'lan's sympathizers in the Lorell system.

The Lorell system became the capital system of the Draconian Union with Princess Da'tan herself governing the system, with some day-to-day assistance from Countess Mantar. The old House Paradoc palace was rebuilt in to the Royal Draconian Palace in Northern Avalon.

Siege of the Capital

Operation Tini'duran - First Battle of Hapes Prime - First Battle of Maires

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Lady Tini'duran of Maires was among Princess Da'tan's supporters and had been informed of the attack on Lorell. She began plans for the evacuation of Maires as she realized she would not be able to hold the planet for long if Princess Ta'lan decided to retaliate. She outlined Operation Tini'duran in much haste in order to launch the attack at the same time as Lorell was set to fall.

Agents of House Tini'duran seized control of the Consortium Navy's ships protecting her planet, bringing them in to her own personal fleet. She then split her armada in two task forces. The primary task force moved straight to Hapes Prime, taking out a minor patrol on it's path, and destroyed numerous Hapan Consortium shipyards around the capital world, while also engaging Princess Ta'lan's forces above the capital world. The task force then passed the third moon of Hapes Prime and took out its orbital defense station before retreating to the Lorell system.

The secondary task force attacked the moon of Vergill, bombarding the colony on its surface before jumping to hyperspace to the Lorell system.

A few hundred thousand of the most devoted troops stayed behind on Maires to hold the world for as long as they could and to inflict maximum amount of damage onto Ta'lan loyalists. When the Sword Confederacy forces arrived on March 3, orbit of Maires was empty apart from a few vessels which gave the invading fleet little trouble. The assault proved much more troublesome. The Draconian troops on the planet operated the computer control centres and kept the shields of the planet up while defense batteries opened fire on any capital vessel within range.

The Sword Confederacy was finally able to land troops and assault vehicles on the southern continent on March 7. However the task of conquering the planet would prove difficult, despite the low number of Draconian troops. It was not until October 19 that the final Draconian stronghold surrendered on the planet and the Sword Confederacy gained air superiority. Some sporadic resistance from the local population and also small Draconian militant cells continued during the first decade of the war, making the occupation of the planet difficult for Princess Ta'lan's forces.

Zukan Resists

First Battle of Wert - Second Battle of Wert The Zukan system was under the governance of Lady Xarlac, one of Princess Da'tan's strongest sympathizers. While she was never pledged her forces or loyalty to either side, she firmly resisted the presence of Sword Confederacy ships and Consortium Navy vessels leaning towards Princess Ta'lan's cause. In retrospect it seems likely that the Lady was planning to sit the war out and eventually allign with whatever side appeared to be winning. Fearing that Xarlac would join the Draconian Union, Princess Ta'lan ordered her forces to take the Zukan system and the capital world Wert to temporarily unseat the Lady on June 8.

Xarlac had anticipated the Princess' plans ahead of time and ensured that the Consortium forces would side with her in the event of a Sword Confederacy invasion. Using the armada of House Xarlac and the Consortium fleet defeated Ta'lan's forces with a surprise tactical maneouver during the first battle of Wert. While a number of Sword ships were destroyed, most were disabled or captured to be annexed in to Xarlac's own fleet.

PrincessTa'lan was greatly worried about the events in the Zukan system and saw any failiure there as unacceptable. The failed attempt to unseat Lady Xarlac would likely push the noble towards the Draconian Union and the system could easily become a point from which the Draconian forces could launch attacks in to the Interior region. She therefore sent Lady Zului of Ut to deal with House Xarlac on July 2.

A lengthy battle ensued, ending favourably for House Zului and the Sword Confederacy. Lady Xarlac's remaining forces retreated to the Orthwell system before officially joining the Draconian Union on July 5 3946.