The Exonian Empire is an ancient and historically very potent planetary conglomeration of planetary systems in the Ellion Arm subjugate to the homeworld of Exonia, a planet (and its moons) almost entirely covered in massive urban structures.
The Exonian race is a humanoid species, with two large eyes, one nose, a ridge along the nose, which ends right above a small mouth with very thin lips, and small, yellow teeth. They are around 0.5 dul average height, with large appendages, which include a pair of hands and feet, with five fingers on each, and a tail with a large spike along it, with three other inferior, projectable spikes protruding isometrically around the central one at about 30 degrees to its axis.
These complex beings were the second oldest surviving life forms after the Antheons, however, they were the first to develop interstellar travel and colonization, which led to the Antheonic Exodus of Eon in -7.11 billion DT, caused by the attempted colonization of the species. Thus spawned the Eonic Feud between the Antheons and the Exonians, which would last until the disappearance of the Antheons (instigated by a massive assault on the Antheonic Core Worlds), and inherited by their successors, the Helics, and their worshippers, the Aelthers.
An average Exonian lives for around 80 eons.
1 eon= 1,000,000 dy.
First Era (6800 EonsBefore-year0) (1E0/1)[]
Pre-history and background (~7891-6800 EonsBefore-(GY)0/1E1)[]
The history of Exonia is muddled and tainted by songs and stories, myths and propaganda, fables and legends, leaving little solid evidence with which to prove the actual age of the civilization, barring substantial physical evidence from a later time, and a very precise and substantiated estimate of its origins in -7.891 Gda. (-7891 eons before year 0)
First Era begins with the invention of writing -6800/1E0
Triangulating the point of origin of the Exonian species on the planet by plotting the oldest archaeological findings beneath the multimillenia-old foundations of the planet-wide city, paleoanthropologists determine that, in -7891, the Exonian species emerged in the ancient wetland regions of the precinct (historically, port city) of Calyx, where the tallest and most populated "buildings" (in reality, each "building" houses about 9 million Exonians, making each equal to a megopolis on an average planet) are located. Calyx is located on the largest Exonian harbor, on the northern coast of the southernmost continent, which happens to be the smallest, and most populated, containing 85% of the planet's 25 trillion inhabitants, of which most live in "skybridges," or structures so tall, that they reach partially into the stratosphere, and have large, 10-kdul wide bridges connecting each to the largest one, an octagonal tower with a large sphere on top called the "Hub".
The conquering of the planet was arduous and costly. All other species of intelligent life, and even all other subspecies of Exonian, were exterminated, providing an urgent motive for colonization of planets. The Global Alliance(GA) was replaced by the Exonian Monarchy, named after the nation of Exon, the global superpower, as the global Exonian government in 1E234. It colonized its only atmospheric moon, which was stripped dry of its resources, and used as real estate for the Exonian wealthy and for its administration. The three other moons were mined until only shells were left. Then, cobweb-like structures were made to provide a structural skeleton for more cities to accommodate the expanding Exonian population. Each moon contains about 2 trillion each.
Exonia reaches Civ Class B (1E346/-6.454 Gdy DT)
Several waves of prospective colonists were shipped out into space in 1E348. First successful colonization began on neighboring Nova Calyx, currently the most populated planet in the known universe, containing 50 trillion mainly Exonian inhabitants solely on the planet proper, not including the additionally 25 trillion of its lunar inhabitants, located on its six atmospheric, and one metallic, moons. Its importance has always been reliant on its rich mineral resources, but even more importantly, on its position: the only sizable celestial object between resource-rich and influential Astral Exonia and the rest of the galaxy, stationed at the only gap in the nebula cloud that surrounds the planetary group like an envelope.
First extra-Exonian contact was made with the Antheons on Eon in 408, and the first Interstellar Trade Agreement in the known universe was signed. Aggression toward the amicable Antheons by the quite antagonistic Exonians reached a boiling point during the Nuclear Incident, where an "accidental discharge" was blamed for the carpetbombing of Eon with nuclear warheads, each weighing around 50 Mdum.
The decimated Antheonic population quickly sought refuge from its adversarial neighbor, and, reeling from its loss, and being unable to salvage any of Eon's resources, the Great Antheonic Exile moved the Antheons to Ovar.
The Cevian Empire, a newly-formed empire at the time, was a major threat to the Exonians. Cevian scientists discovered a method of thinning the density of the Nebulous Envelope, forever reducing it to a mere asteroid cloud in comparison to the Maelstrom, as it was once known. In 547, the first ever Interstellar Wars were waged, a 3 eon-long planetary struggle between the Exonians and the Cevians, and later, in 548, the Latinians.
The Outer Exonian worlds of Mellinia and Sidona were ravaged, and Ionia was rendered nearly void of all life. However, after the 1st eon, the war spilled into neutral space, and, by the 2nd eon, divulged into Cevian space. For the latter eon of the war, the Cevians fought for every dul of earth beneath their feet, and, on the last day of the eon, only 6 million Cevians were left in existence.
The Reintegration marked a turning point in Exonian history, leading to peace in its galactic sector.
Second Era (1E550-2E1/6250 EB-0)[]
During the First Peace, New Caldon was found, and its species were allowed to live on, freely, in a vast departure from traditional Exonian antagonistic foreign policy. It even attempted to quell the incessant conflict covering the planet, causing a few to lead the Caldonian Rebellion in 2E52. The Rebellion was so successful, and foreign policies were so polar between the Outer Exonian and Astral Exonian regions, that the Republic split in two, spawning the First Exonian Empire and the Outer Exonian Republic. These two massive galactic bodies governed, or claimed to govern, around half of Basilicus Prime, although the vast majority of the systems were merely claimed, but not actually colonized or administered in any substantial way.
Exonian relations with the surrounding planets that existed as part of the Empire was strained. In 104, there was a large uprising on Rudon that the Exonian forces needed to put down. Half of the Exonian navy was lost on the way to Rudon, owing to the newness of interstellar space travel on a massive scale. The remnants of the navy couldn't escape back to Exonia, so they continued to follow the last orders given: put down the rebellion at all costs.
Being completely cut off from Exonia, the navy forcibly took all of the resources needed to sustain themselves, not following any law. This was known as the Rape of Rudon, lasting from 105 to 427, when reinforcements came and extracted the rogue element of the navy and decommissioned all of the participants.
The First Rudo-Exonian War erupted over the details of reparations to the Rudonians for the 300 years of oppression and terror. The conservative Exonian monarch, Multimus I, thought that the navy did what it could under the circumstances, and thought that the reparations, which were to be voluntarily conceded, should be minimal. The oppressed Rudonians were very angry and thought and suspected that the attack was completely intentional and that Exonia should be punished. The reason that Rudon had such a strong pull in interstellar affairs was that it was mostly an agricultural planet, with immense fields that were the most fertile in the discovered galaxy.
The Rudo-Exonian War was devastating for everyone; directly for the Rudonians, and indirectly through the loss of food for the Exonians. They signed a pact in 430 that they would never war with each other again, due to the immense importance each one had for one another. This peace was to last well into the Fourth Era.
The Rudo-Exonian Pact was used as a basis for the Maelstrom Economic Treaty Organization, a mutual protection, cooperation, and peace agreement that lasted until the end of the First Empire.
There was a relatively brief period of peace through this peace agreement, a 700-year long Second Peace.
However, in 1246, the Second Great Exonian Civil War erupted over a succession problem, also known on Exonia as the Wars of the Dual Lines. There was to be a female heir, but the second child was popularly supported as the preferred monarch. The female, Princess Fermosa, held a conflict with her younger brother, Fortius, from 1247 to 1261, which was resolved in the death of Princess Formosa. Her family was exiled, but publicly, and people began to rally around her son, Tarbin, who wished to avenge his mother.
The Second War (1289-1314) was fought between Tarbinian forces and Fortian forces, There was no clear decision, and both were installed as co-monarchs. Fortius mysteriously died in office, and Tarbin took over as sole monarch in 1329. Although not exiled, the tensions between Formosa and Fortius were about to rupture.
Two more inconclusive Wars (1347-1361, 1387-1401) were waged in the shadows, killing the majority of the nobility. A revolutionary group, the Black Hand, was waging another clandestine war against the nobility in secret, so as to move the power to the people. This tension boiled for the next century. The Last War (1556-1627) was the greatest, and involved not only the two houses of nobility, but the general public, which legitimized the Black Hand as a legitimate political and military entity. The Riot at the Capital in 1627, after nearly a billion casualties, marked the deposing of the two noble houses, and the beginning of the short-lived Exonian Republic (1627-1631), which was succeeded by the Provisional Empire,
The First Exonian Empire fell in 1627 after a series of Civil Wars following an inheritance conflict, culminating in the War of the Seven Emperors, a legendary event that would take place on every Imperial planet and reduce the population by 90%. The victor, Emperor Tarsus III of Nova Calyx, temporarily made the Empire into a conglomerate of planetary states, but, during the reign of Empress Medina, Tarsus' great-granddaughter, the other states staged a suppressive coup, killing the cabinet, and subduing the Empress, forcing her to confer administrative powers to the First Imperial Council. It reestablished Empress Medina as the monarch of the Empire, who retained limited legislative, executive, and judicial powers, but transferred effective authority to the leaders of the coup, who subsequently established a parliamentary election for the House of Hosts, the counterpart to the House of Earls. Seventeen Arbiters, one for each province, plus one each for Nova Calyx and Exonia, were established as the heads of law enforcement, and would compose the Ultimate Court of Appeals.
Empress Medina was conferred the provision for emergency dictatorial powers, which would later be used by another famous monarch, Aurelius XII of Exonia.
The Outer Exonian Republic moves its administrative center to New Ionia in 2249, sparking a civil war over the retention of economic powers between New Ionia and Aurelia. Aurelia retains economic stability, while the capital of New Ionia falls to the Imperial Navy under the command of General Septimus the Great, who would usurp the throne for 20 years before being ousted by the House of Earls, and succeeded by Darius V.
In 2687, the Imperial Exonian population breaks the billion mark once again.
The Phagocytic Wars (2712-2732) were fought, in which the Second Exonian Empire attempts to reconquer its republic counterpart. Only during the 8th one does the Empire obtain New Ionia, and resubjugates its people, reducing the population of Rebels to 4 billion from a total of 2 trillion.
Third Era (2E2733-3E1/3517 EB-0)[]
The Third Era began relatively calmly compared to the Phagocytic Wars because the Wars had taken their toll on the galactic public and morale. There was the Third Peace from 3E1 to 3E1080.
In 3E1080, the Exonian Empire resumes expansionist action, and encroaches upon the now more advanced Ovar System, was retaliated against, and faced such substantial losses, the Imperial Galactic Patrol became the main military force for the subsequent 17 years. The First Sido-Mellinian War (1111-1127) was sparked by an assassination of a Sidon activist leader in the Capitol Square of Urban Mellinia. Mellinia sacked the capital of Sidona, Cardinium, forcefully ending the conflict, but thoroughly enraging the Sidoni population.
In 1583, the Third Sido-Mellinian War (1583-1600) involved proxy powers located in Exonia, Nova Calyx, and New Ionia, with Aurelia directly involved in military action. Exonia, who favored expansion and consumption, supported a proposition to mine the mantle of Sidonia, protectorate of Mellinia, and subordinate thereof. New Ionia also supported this claim, as the materials would be processed on New Ionia, then shipped to Nova Calyx, then Exonia. Aurelia, a sympathizer of the oppressed Sidonis, initially provided arms to paramilitary groups. After two centuries of infighting amongst Parmits (paramilitaries), Aurelia decided to take action. Landing on Sidonia in 1587, Aurelian strike forces captured the capitol building, held Mellinian parliament hostage, and forced Exonian quick reaction forces to respond, leading to a yearlong struggle for the city square. Aurelian forces were driven out on 14 Septimus, 1588, and were pinned down in a spaceport. Extraction couldn't punch through the stratospheric defense system, and all Aurelian hands were lost, either killed in combat or executed. Novan forces moved in to interdict for Aurelian forces, but it was too late. Offensive operations ceased in 1591, and Aurelia was subdued by 1594. Novan forces continued to strike key objectives well into 1599, and only ceased after the treaty on 23 Ultimus, 1601, thus ending the Third Era.
Fourth Era (The Great Tumult) (3E1602-4E1/1915 EB-0)[]
The Fourth Era was an era of tragedy, death, destruction, and despair. Initially, the Empire was, at least internally, at piece. The border worlds became an increasingly vibrant activity hub, attracting miners, frontiersmen, entrepreneurs, and the horizon looked clear and the future seemed bright. However, on 23 Secundus, 4E 13, war broke out once again. This time, there was an uprising on Exonia itself, the Imperial Family slaughtered, leaving only Anastasia, born 4E8, the Emperor's youngest daughter, alive. The Imperial Guard was nearly destroyed covering the Princess' retreat, only a few were left alive.
After the Homeworld Uprising, a shockwave rippled throughout the Empire, leaving an enormous power vacuum that many devastating wars were waged by interplanetary warlords to fill.
Of these wars, one was of extreme consequence. On the densely populated Lesser Aurelian Continent, a beggar girl from the squalor of Capitalis, the Aurelian capital city, claimed to be Anastasia herself. Charismatic, radical, revolutionary, Anastasia was the single most successful revolutionary in galactic history, taking over Aurelia, her homeworld, in the Anastasian Uprising, and the Reclamation, which ended in the overthrow of the Steward as the ruling party of the Empire, and to her coronation as Empress after two years of war at the tender age of 17.
Anastasia expanded the empire's wealth immensely, reinvigorating the dying empire with youthful energy and a revolutionary vision. She improved interior relations with the few natives left on the subjugate planets, called off all colonization campaigns, and endorsed a peaceful acquisition of power over people through trade and alliances. By the time she turned 21, the Empire once again returned to the position of galactic superpower, and her vision extended further. She moved the capital to Aurelia, and married her bodyguard, Alderius, and bore her heir, which she named Aurelia, born on 4E29.
Aurelia was positioned to be the heiress to the throne, but this endorsement, though supported by the public, was condemned by the High Council. They determined that she should continue to try and produce a male heir to the throne in order to maintain tradition. She vehemently refused, and exiled all those who supported the proposition.
She abolished the male primogeniture that reigned supreme in the Empire, but the fact that there was resistance shook her greatly. She became increasingly aggressive, both domestically and abroad. She began sweeping campaigns in the Ionro and Latinian Arms, winning decisively for the most part, and achieving Pyrrhic and strategic victories in others. It was as if nothing could stop the momentum of the Exonian Armies.
But suddenly, at age 42, Anastasia the Great died of unknown causes in 4E50.
Anastasia is recognized as the single most reform-oriented, revolutionary, successful, and adored leader to ever rule over the Empire, followed by her daughter, Aurelia, who didn't come to power in her own right until 4E60, on her 31st birthday. Her father ruled as Steward Alderius the Wise until his untimely death in 4E56, further expanding the Empire. However, the High Elder mysteriously proclaimed power and attempted to usurp the throne, but was defeated by the elite Royal Imperial Guard.
Aurelia was crowned Supreme Empress of the Exonian Empire and Exonian Interstellar Protectorates and Possessions, and she called off all of the interstellar campaigns, especially those of the devastating Ionro Theatre, which produced nearly two trillion casualties, two-thirds of which were civilian. The reparations, voluntarily given, were astounding, draining nearly one-third of the Imperial Reserve, and angering the Exonian people.
However, Aurelia was not through with Old Exonia yet. She was determined to crush any rebellions that resembled a threat to Imperial sovereignty, and became a ruthless, but occasionally beneficent, dictator. She was given the unofficial moniker of "Aurelia the Mighty," both out of respect and of fear for the Empress and her unwavering brutality.
Another Exonian uprising caught the Empress' eye, one which had one Sorex Archelaeus as its head. He was a tall man, very strong and majestic. His claim to the throne was through the illegitimate heir to Tarsus IV, who ruled in the late Second Era. She attempted to crush it, but, whenever her own Royal Guardsmen failed to uproot the Rebellion, she personally participated in the war, beheading Archelaeus herself. She returned a hardened veteran of war, and she solidified her claim to the throne through force.
However, much good can be said of this legendary figure. She was ultimately fair, determined, and had a strong sense of justice and established Aurelia's Decree, the justice code followed to this day, in 4E75, when she was 46 years old.
However, the universe had a much more tragic end in store for the mighty Empress. Aurelia's last Empress would die in the notorious plague named after her: Aurelia's Bane. She would die on 12 Ultimus 4E82 at the age of 53. Aurelia's Tomb, made of Amalachite, was finished as a step pyramid over Capitalis, directly across from the Aurelian Imperial Palace.
She bore no heir, but her brother, who died in combat as a Royal Guardsman during the Archelaeus Campaign, had a newborn son, Tiberius, who was 18 years of age at the time of his coronation.
Tiberius proved to be a disappointment to the public, which expected another ruler of the caliber of Anastasia the Great or Aurelia the Tragic. He did nothing noteworthy during his tenure, and retired peacefully. However, it was what he did in retirement that immortalized him in the annals of Galactic History.
He personally funded the Great Maelstrom Alliance (GMA), a group of separatist splinter cells working to take over the governments of their respective planets, declare a cessession from the Exonian Empire, and become a newly-formed interstellar economic entity. Tiberius was promised the seat of High Chancellor, but there was an insurrection from within the ranks of his bodyguards, and he was killed in the firefight. The next named High Chancellor of the Great Maelstrom Alliance was a mysterious Septimus Maximus, a plebian from the squallor of New Calyx. He was of Cevian descent, but was an amazingly keen and shrewd general, winning the majority of his campaigns, including the commandeering of the New Calyxian government.
After the Fall of the Novan Government in 4E155, the dominoes began to fall much faster than before. Tebin, Ionia, then Ladriel fell, and the Andorran Resistance was nearly crushed in the Battle for Ardelia, the Andorran capital, after which the Resistance went underground, conducting guerilla tactics throughout the next three decades.
However, the tides would turn for Maximus. During the Great Exonian Insurrection, where half of the Exonian populace was murdered, killed in combat, or otherwise put to death, the other splinter cells began plotting an assassination for the immensely powerful Septimus Maximus. En route to aid the struggling Rudonian campaign, he was assassinated aboard his vessel.
The new Novan Confederacy, being attacked from Aurelia, Nova Caldon, and Cevia, collapsed. However, the Maelstrom Alliance stood, shaken, but very much alive. Militarily, it only occupied itself with the reconquering of Nova Caldonia, the crushing of two separate Rudonian rebellions, and the defense of its farthest system, and its capital, Nova Calyx.
In the Second Defense of Nova Calyx in 4E217, the soon-to-be Emperor arose from the ashes, singlehandedly holding off the Aurelian Armada until reinforcements arrived. His name was Severus Ardelius, from Andor. He was from a noble family, but felt that Andor should've been given semi-autonomous status for its key role in the cruising of the Aurelian Armada in the First Defense of Nova Calyx in 4E179. He was a brash, arrogant, but extremely skilled prodigy in military tactics and strategy. He graduated from the Military Academy at Ionia in 4E216.
In 4E220, the new "Emperor" was crowned. He was the best military strategist ever to be associated with the Exonian Empire, much to the chagrin of his official counterpart, Brutus Octavius. After the Sack of Capitalis in 4E241, after nearly 13 years of fighting in the First Novan-Aurelian War, Octavius moved his government to Nova Ionia, and the Sido-Mellinian system was lost, being too tumultuous to control after the sacking of the capital.
The Seventh Sido-Mellinian War spilled out into an incredibly chaotic firefight in interstellar space, and nearly the entirety of the Novan Armada's fleet was wiped out. Octavius saw the opportunity and assaulted the flagship which housed Ardelius. Although he lost half of his fleet in the onslaught, the Exonian Armada successfully destroyed the remnants of the Novan Armada, crushing the rebellion for good in 4E251. The Treaty of Capitalis was signed in 4E252, and the Novan Strategic Alliance was formed, and the Aurelian Republic was established voluntarily, with Brutus Octavius stepping down as Emperor and serving as Head Representative in the new Aurelian Parliament.
The First Novan-Aurelian War left a vast fallout, and the two remaining interstellar entities became occupied with the first Restoration after a war that left 16.3% of the area's population dead, and nearly all of the surfaces of the planets involved completely decimated. The isolationism that followed by both Central Exonian powers allowed the rest of the Sector's star systems to fall into the Tumult, a 1200-year long dark age of slaughter, disease, and regression.
The Tumult (4E253-1471)[]
The Second Mellinian Civil War (4E257-274) was a large scale conflict that consumed all of the attention of the Aurelian Republic. The tripartite war was completely unprecedented in terms of fighting style, as the conflict was between the Urban Regime, whose sphere of influence was the tiny southern continent of Mellinia, the interstellar center of power on Mellinia, based in the Mellinian capital of Urbis, and the Ruran Confederation, a conglomerate of the lesser powers on the much larger, more agricultural and inhospitable continents, based on the much lesser second-most powerful equatorial continent of Irdex, and in the city of Rura. Equipped with outdated weaponry, but outnumbering the Urban forces by twenty to one, the Ruran forces adopted a campaign of terror after their humiliating defeat in the Battle of Tritum, an outskirt of Urbis, in 4E264. The Reign of Terror included the near-razing of Urbis, the devastation of the Hostage Crisis of 4E271, and the Final Offensive of 4E272. Throughout the war, Aurelian forces attempted peacekeeping operations, but got caught up in firefights, and began to attack only the units that participated in the direct attack of civilians of any kind or any Aurelian unit. During the Reign of Terror, the Aurelian Republic declared open war against the Ruran Confederation, and crushed it in the Siege of Rura in 4E274, thereby ending the war.
However, a much fiercer, but much shorter, conflict arose on Sidonia. During the Third Sidonian Insurrection (4E272-276), an underground unit of revolutionaries enacted their plan of destroying all Aurelian and Novan embassies, threatening the direct involvement of the Novan military. This was averted, however, after vigorous negotiation by both the Sidonian and Aurelian authorities, who assured that no other offensive action against Novan citizens or interests would be allowed if it were in their power to prevent it. The Novan government relented, being focused on a resurrected and rejuvenated Rudonian rebellion threatening to infect nearby systems and other Novan interests, such as the mining operations on Rudonia's seven moons.
Aurelian forces, occupied with crushing the much larger and potentially dangerous Ruran Confederacy of Mellinia, became very lenient and tolerant of the Sidonan revolutionaries, much to the dissappointment of the Sidonian aristocracy. During this period, the revolutionary forces were crushing the Sidonian expeditionaries, and the Aurelian authorities remained impartial granted that no civilians were harmed. However, in 4E275, an incident in downtown Formicum (the capital) caused the Aurelian Armada's hand to be forced to crush the rebellion in 4E276. The aftermath was devastating, with the rural casualties being enormous, nearly one billion Sidonians killed, and the complete overthrow of the existing Sidonian ruling party of the time in the parliamentary elections.
Eonian politics, though internally tranquil, were becoming increasingly aggressive. The newly-formed Eonian army easily conquered the Ovaran Monarchy, which was exterminated, except for the toddler, Bordez Ngamben, who was born in 4E321, and was 5 years old at the time of the extermination. Bordez Ngamben was officially adopted by a prominent Sebran politician, Gamel Subina, the candidate for Prime Minister at the time. He won the election, and was officially backed up by his son, which granted him the power of ruling figure of both planets, after which he declared himself Overlord of Eon and Ovar in 4E342 at the age of 50.
He maintained a façade of humanitarian operation on Ovar, but it was discovered that the "medical supplies" that were being imported were actually lethal poisons that were set up to be ingested by the diverse, native Ovaran ethnicities, the most diverse in the sector. He was killed by his adoptive son at the age of 87 in 4E379. Bordez Ngamben was crowned in 4E380 at the age of 59, but he abolished the position two years later, pulling out all Eonian forces, and reinstating himself as King in 4E384.
Meanwhile, within the Maelstrom, there was much tumult as well. Nova Caldon was in tumult, with three civil wars and two interstellar wars spanning 50 years of history (4E372-4E427). Entering the period, the relations with Exonia were excellent, there was an established 142-year old monarchy ruling over Nova Caldon, and the population was 14 billion. Exiting this period, Caldonian armadas ambushed and decimated, and were later decimated by the Exonian Armada, three different governments culminated in the installation of a constitutional (reinstated) monarchy, and the global population was less than one billion. It's interstellar power was completely eradicated, and the Great Caldonian Restoration (4E428-5E1045) began.
The Great Rudonian Rebellion was a 569-year long war against the Novan Strategic Alliance, who couldn't sustain an intense campaign deep within the Maelstrom. finally, in 4E839, the Novan Armada was repelled, and Rudon fell into the Rudonian Dark Age (4E840-5E23). There are barely any records from this long stretch in Rudonian history, but what is known is that they went through ten different dynasties, went from 15 billion to 2 million global inhabitants, and ruined all relations with the Exonian Sector, after which it initiated the Greatest Restoration (5E23-8E14).
Imperial Exonia, still clinging to the painful nostalgia of a powerful interstellar empire, began to move once again under the rule of Dynastus III, who rose to power in 4E924. Factions within the Maelstrom again began to exert themselves over the old Imperial Capital.
Another revolutionary group, the Black Swords, undertook a terror campaign that would devastate the populace of Exonia. They would decapitate enemies, impale victims, and burn entire cities, while never relenting, and going on often suicidal missions, all for the destruction of the Empire.
They blew up the Parliamentary Building in 4E1001 to kill all of the standing politicians, and then claimed that they would avenge the deaths of them if they were elected into office. And they were. Their leader, a masked man named Ghost, was nominated in 4E1009 for their creation: the seat of Prime Minister. This was their answer to the long period of a capital abroad, and giving one person the power of an Emperor.
Their vision of a reborn Exonian Empire was beginning to be realized. Their next target was Nova Calyx, the capital of the NSA. The first battle of the First Exo-Novan War (4E1012-4E1093) was waged right outside of Novan space, with the much better equipped Novan Armada won a decisive victory, nearly destroying the newly-formed Exonian Expeditionary Interstellar Navy. The EEIN retreated into deep space, and regrouped for half a year.
The second attempt actually entered Nova Calyx's gravisphere, with wreckage from the battle threatening to hit the densely populated planet's surface. The Novan Planetary Defense Force pounded the offensive lines of the incoming fleet, beating them all the way back into deep space.
Afterwards, both sides receded, saving the EEIN from a swift destruction. The NPDF did suffer many casualties as well. Both forces met in very deep space, far away from any support, and the rest of the Deep Space detachment was destroyed in a massive firefight because the EEIN had their Prime Minister, Spectrum, an extremely talented battle tactician, on board their capital ship, the Aurum Bellum.
The Third Defense of Nova Calyx, also known as the Fall of the Capital, was a disaster for both sides.
The EEIN attacked once again in 4E1076, smashing the initial defensive lines of the NPDF, which was caught completely by surprise due to the destruction of their Deep Space Detachment. The slaughter began outside of the city, beginning with the burning of buildings, people, and monuments, and ended with the desecration of the capital building with the blood of the captured members of the NPDF.
This caused the transfer of the Novan capital to Ladriel, the dense jungle planet, where the blood of Aurelia's campaigns still haunted the military. There would be little chance to find the small base that housed Dynastus and his cabinet. However, the Exonians did in 4E1091, and the Battle of Ladriel ensued, a two-year-long ferocious battle in the jungle, where units disappeared in an instant, either to the enemy, or to the natives. There were so many casualties, mostly Exonian, that mountains of them covered vast areas of the landscape, enough to be seen from space. There was enough death surrounding the war that Exonian citizens cried out for the ending of the war, threatening a violent rebellion. Thus ended the Great Exo-Novan War.
The capital was returned to a razed Capitalis, and the decimated EEIN fled back to its bases on Exonia. Then Exonia receded into the deep, dark Maelstrom, adopting an absolute isolationism, and invading the surrounding planets, the most important of which was Rudon. However, it was a peaceful annexation made by two war-weary worlds.
That was the last great event in the Tumult. The remaining 400 years were full of struggle and civil war.
On the first cycle of 4E1471, the Pan-Exonian peace treaty was signed, a pact that divided the Arm into sectors: The Aurelian Sector, the Exonian Sector (already established by the Maelstrom), the Novan Sector, the Cevian Sector, and Outer Exonia. The namesakes of the pact were the only signatories, however, since those who would be included did not want to be, and there was massive resistance.
However, thus ended the Tumult.
The anti-status quo sentiment of Outer Exonia, which began on the distant Ovar System, spread quickly to Nova Exonia. The three planets quickly aligned themselves, forming the Outer Trinity. It was a strategic, economic, and military organization that would mutually ensure the protection of all member planets. The official pact was signed in 4E1482. This is the year that the Trinity planets base their calender upon. The year 4E1482 is their year 0.
In 4E1501, all of the walls of the Time Capsule were mapped, denoting the three-dimensional envelope in which all of time went slower than in the space around it. At the time of the mapping, there was still a conversion ratio of 990,000 years for every year inside. Thus, whatever was tested outside of the probe suddenly vaporized over the next several days.
Exonian finally shed its cloak of isolationism in 4E1672, when the EEIN reached, but didn't involve itself on, Eltos. This planet is behind the very Maelstrom itself, and was in the prehistoric stages at the time. However, upon the observation, a lighter was left behind by one of the scouts. This small mistake would cause a massive ripple effect on the rest of life on the planet.
On the other side of the Region, the Outer Trinity waged war on Cevia, causing the involvement of Aurelian forces, who were occupied with the Eleventh Sido-Mellinian War (4E1530-1871). Only limited support could be spared for the Cevian Defense Force, a force of nearly half a million, which was the only military the 2 billion Cevians could muster.
However outnumbered, the CDF held their ground until the very end, dragging the conflict well past what it should have been, causing it to drag from 1684 to 1901. Halfway through, in 1783, Aurelian forces were attacked; instead of overbearing in reaction as per usual, the Aurelians retreated, leaving the Cevians to defend their own planet. This event, called the Abandonment, caused a sharp decline in morale, of which it never recovered. This event very nearly directly caused the downfall of Cevia in 1871. The system was conceded in 1872.
After nearly two hundred years of pooling resources, Exonia declared itself the seat of the Fifth Empire, after the First and Second Exonian Empires, the Anastasian Empire, and the Aurelian Empire (the only outside of Exonia). The Third Exonian Empire had a coronation for their new Emperor, Maximilian I, in 1915, ending the Fourth Era.
Fifth Era (4E1915-5E0) (0 GST/DSU/HSU) (Temporal Equalization)[]
At the end of the Fourth Era, there were four main entities that were vying for control of the Sector: the Outer Trinity, the Aurelian Republic, the First Novan Strategic Alliance, and the Third Exonian Empire. However, in the year 4E1915, there was a strange incident that caused the Temporal Envelope around the Exonian Sector, previously isolated, to dissipate, exposing the Balkanized and internally weak Exonian Sector to the Empires around it.