Hapan Civil War

Template:UnderConstruction 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

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

The Archon of the Rifle Worlds arrives in Lorell Hall to give his vote.

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'tan 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.

Factions

Sword Confederacy

For a more detailed profile on this faction, see the Sword Confederacy.

Draconian Union

For a more detailed profile on this faction, see the Draconian Union.

The Draconian Union was formed by the more conservative noble houses of the Hapes Consortium and ruled over most of the Rifle Worlds and Rim Worlds during the majority of the Dark Age. The Union was headed by Princess Da'tan for the first two decades while Lady Ci'hani served as Regent in an interim period between Da'tan and Princess Da'tanah.

With the support of such families as House Olanji and House Par'wandi, the Draconian Union likely had the most powerful war machine out of all the factions of the Hapan civil war. The Union's mighty fleets and armies invaded enemy territories on multiple occasions, often with devastating results. It also defeated the breakaway Victory Alliance in 3972. The Union was eventually defeated in the pivotal second battle of Gallinore and sought peace with the Phoenix Movement shortly after.

Victory Alliance

For a more detailed profile on this faction, see the Victory Alliance.

The Victory Alliance was formed shortly after the death of Princess Da'tan in 3965. House Vali'dara and House Tyrridon expressed discontent with the decision to have House Ci'hani rule the Draconian Union while waiting for Princess Da'tanah to come of age. They took over the Alsace system along with the Tirsa and Dreema systems.

The leadership of the Draconian Union frowned upon the defectors and engaged the Victory Alliance on multiple occasions. House Shaa, originally also from Alsace was tasked with fighting House Vali'dara and House Tyrridon. The Victory forces were defeated in 3972 and all of its territories were returned to the Draconian Union.

Phoenix Movement

For a more detailed profile on this faction, see the Phoenix Movement.

The Phoenix Movement was classed as a peasant revolt by both the Draconian Union and Sword Confederacy, rising to prominence in the Charu system and eventually spreading to the rest of the Hapes Cluster. The faction initially consisted of small cells doing surgical strikes against the infrastructure of the other major factions. The leaders of the Movement were farmboys Andrew Starfyre and Derrik Florda. As their Phoenix Movement expanded, it became gradually more organised, often annexing defecting fleets, armies, planets and systems from enemy forces.

The Sword Confederacy was finally annexed by the Phoenix Movement in 3996 when they seized Hapes Prime. The Draconian Union made a bold strike to destroy the Phoenix Movement's forces and leadership at the second battle of Gallinore in 3998. After the Draconians were defeated, they sought out peace with the Phoenix leadership and the two parties reunified the Hapes Consortium in 4000.

See Also

Template:Hapan Civil War