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The War Unending
meedacthunist
Posts: 2,961 Arc User1
Something recovered from now defunct Primus database. It was made as a base of origin for few of my technology oriented characters. Basically a whole species created for their background.
"Thousands of cycles ago we were glorious.
We could build wonders, we could perform miracles. Nobody could match us in Triangulum galaxy.
We could rival Malvans!
And now... Look at us now, look at what left of the Structure!
We are reduced to scavengers fighting over a carrion of a world...
And it's all because of greed and ambitions of a one man!
May Overlight preserve us all...
There is no end to this madness."
Archon Lightbringer, Supreme Commander of the Protectors
STRUCTURALS
Location: Triangulum Galaxy (catalogue number Messier 33 or NGC 598), very far from the Earth.
Intentions Toward Humanity: Neutral, Structurals have no knowledge about the Earth.
Propulsion Tech Level: Advanced (FTL ships able to cross Milky Way-sized galaxy within a month, antigravity propelled flight, starwells).
Military Tech Level: Advanced (energy projectors and force fields) but their level of military organisation is low - they are warriors, not soldiers.
Medical Tech Level: Highly Advanced (able to rebuild deceased Structural as long as brain is intact) but have next to none knowledge about organic biology.
Computer Tech Level: Highly Advanced but very often incompatible with technology of other species unless specially adapted for such interactions.
Physical Description: Tall (between 7 and 10 feet tall) armored humanoids made of various metallic alloys.
Homeworld: The Structure.
Government Type: Two large warring factions and a large number of independent city-states.
Territories: One solar system including one Dyson shell type artificial world and an asteroid belt.
Superpowered population level: High. While no known Structurals have superpowers they are able to upgrade themselves with various technologies giving them equivalent of metahuman powers. Known examples are flight, invulnerability, superstrength, built-in energy weapons and kinetic force projectors. Most powerful of them have built-in ability to manipulate cosmic power.
PHYSICAL BUILD:
An average Structural is between 7 and 10 feet tall. Majority of population is closer to 8 feet in height but few of them can reach even an extreme height of 11 feet.
Typical form is a humanoid of male or female shapes and proportions. Head is usually quite humanlike with solid glowing eyes, but few of them can have much more outlandish look - majority of Structurals have statesque bodies of great beauty and ideal proportions, but some of them are quite monstrous, at least by human standards. Structurals do not have any hair and their body is always metallic.
Structurals are synthetic species, there are no organic parts in their bodies. Despite being created and unable to sexual reproduction, they aren't exactly robots - there is no programming inside their brains and their bodies are built from highly specialised cells made from non-organic elements.
Every Structural begins his or her life as a blob of so-called "core matter" and then is placed into reproduction chamber where this substance is coded with its syntetic replication sequence which works not unlike DNA of organic creatures. This SRS code causes core matter to divide into various organs like skeleton, brain, nerves, armored plating and other mechanisms. After this roughly twenty hours long period a new synthezoid is complete - there are no child Structurals, every of them begins life as a fully adult person, though lacking any specialised knowledge.
Structurals do regenerate their wounds, though despite being much stronger and durable than humans (or almost any other non-superpowered organic lifeform), their level of regeneration isn't much better.
While they can heal internal mechanisms and things like lost eyes, they can't regenerate lost limbs - such damage must be fixed with replacement parts, and it's more complicated than simply attaching new arm. Any new body part must be customised to the user's SRS code, otherwise it will be rejected.
They do not regenerate immediately.
Healing any serious damage may take a few days, also they can't create new body parts out of thin air - to regenerate Structural must be provided with electricity and metallic materials.
Some structurals do have very efficient healing systems granting them with complete and almost immediate regeneration, but those are very rare and such ability is considered an unique superpower. At any rate it isn't anything common amongst Structurals.
In normal circumstances Structurals have no need for any sustenance except energy, which is usually obtained by consuming raw electricity.
Few of them also have upgraded energy systems and are able to feed on power sources like radiation or chemical fuel.
A very specific trait of Structurals as a civilisation is their approach to including technology into their bodies.
While they are unable to change their base configuration and are always humanoid in form, this species do not bother with using hand-held devices or small vehicles. Things like weaponry, flight or communication devices are simply built into their bodies or straight written into their SRS code.
A typical Structural warrior doesn't wear additional armor, hand-held rifle or jet pack. Instead, he or she can change arms into cannons, reconfigure skin into harder armored form, and can fly thanks to internal atigravity projectors.
Structurals also aren't very attached to their look. It's very common for them to change shapes and details of their bodies just like humans are used to changing makeup and clothes.
THE STRUCTURE.
Nobody, including Structurals themselves, knows who and why built the Structure.
From the beginning of its written history it was only a sole Dyson shell type world built around a single Type G star, with only other objects in its solar system being an external asteroid belt - the one very rich with many mineral resources.
It is speculated that so-called Creators were long extinct species of organic humanoids. This theory may be proven by the presence of water and inhabitable atmospheric layer on the internal sun oriented surface of the Structure (because Structurals themselves have no need for drinking or breathing), and by the fact that all Structurals have male or female personality pattern while not being able to sexual reproduction.
The last thing can be also considered a proof of the theory that the Structure was probably an autonomous manufacturing plant and its inhabitants were originated as a line of consumer goods.
100,000 years ago the Structure suddenly came to life, possibly awakened by the meteorite or other natural cataclysm, and its automated production lines gave life to the first generation of Structurals.
Not knowing who they are and why they were originated, the first generation arranged their world in their own way.
THE GOLDEN AGE:
First 50,000 years of the Structure were its Golden Age. A time of unmatched prosperity.
Artificial world was governed by the First Council. Poverty and famine were unknown to this society and art and science flourished. A calm and gentle species, Structurals freely traded with the rest of Triangulum galaxy.
External and always darkened surface of the Structure was made into astroports and mining facilities used for exploration of the nearby asteroid belt, while internal surface bathed in eternal sunlight was populated with glimmering cities and synthetic gardens, with silvery pinnacles towering above golden metallic trees.
By all means, it was a synthetic paradise.
There was no crime nor strife, and the only military organisation was small starfleet needed for chasing occasional pirates or foreign smugglers. The only elite fighting force was the System Patrol, a militant body consisting the most powerful and best trained warriors of the Structure - but they were only a few in numbers.
There was no end to the wealth and splendors of the Structure.
THE FIRST WAR:
Sadly, it was this wealth what has brought the end to the Golden Age.
50,000 years ago the Structure fell victim to the assault of a race of warlike organics.
Those invaders, for Structurals known simply as the Conquerors, were trying to seize control over the Structure's resources and to turn its inhabitants into a slave species.
Initially, war went badly for Structurals.
Their only military victories were claimed by System Patrol, otherwise synthezoids were vastly outnumbered and even though invaders technology wasn't up to the superior standards of the Structure, organics were much better trained and organised.
Losing one battle after another, with cities obliterated by invaders, leaders of the First Council were forced to the desperate measures - a new warlike line of Structurals was created.
Unlike previous peaceful generation, those new Structurals, in the course of war known as the Warborn, were made as aggressive as their opponents and coded with equally violent personalities.
This was the turning poin of the war.
Backed up with Structural technology, much better trained and much more durable than any organic soldiers, the Warborn were winning almost every battle against organics.
In the end, invaders were obliterated along with their invasion fleet.
THE PARADISE LOST:
War has been ended, but things were far from perfect.
The Structure was ravaged, with many of its settlements turned into seas of ruins. Marvels of science were lost during the wartime.
Many citizen lost everything to the flames of war.
To make things even worse, soon it became clear that many of the Warborn can't adapt easily to life in the time of peace.
They were violent and brutal, very often turning to life of crime.
Cities were rebuilt but the Golden Age was lost.
Next 10,000 years saw this once prosperous society slowly dissolving into social stratas, corrupted by crime and unrest. Meanwhile many of upper castes refused to notice it, instead closing themselves in their luxury places.
This was the time when even the System Patrol was very often forced to perform not their heroic duties, but to act as executors and enforcers of legal order - an armed arm of the Second Council, which was no longer able to keep things calm.
Then there was another problem. Because of war, Structurals no longer had any trust towards the other races and trade with the galaxy was no longer as common as before.
This growing paranoia also caused formation of the starfleet and a large standing army, composed mostly of the Warborn. This humongous war machine started to suck even more resources from crisis-ridden society.
THE SNAKE IN THE GARDEN:
Finally, came the man who claimed to have solution for all problems of the Structure.
The first of the Warborn. The one calling himself the Prototype.
In recognition of his merits during the First War, Prototype was promoted as a leader of all Structural military responding only to the ruling Council.
Many times he had criticized the weak and decadent Council and dissolving society, though never in a direct way thus not giving any reasons for his impeachment.
Finally, when situation reached the melting point, he did his move.
Gathering his personal fleet, Prototype made a pillaging raid on a small, but rich, planet inhabitated by peaceful population of organics.
While he refrained himself from performing a bloody massacre, his warriors quickly overwhelmed weak planetary defences and plundered that territory.
Then he came back to the Structure, offering this newly aquired wealth to the all Structurals along with his a rather clear message:
-"This is the new way for us, compatriots!
Nearly a lifetime ago we lost almost everything to the fleshlings, forced to hide amongst the ruins of our own cities, to fight a desparate war for retaining our own world.
But no more...
Look at it, look at our solution!
A single conquest yields us enough resources for setting things right, taking back from those fleshy beings what is rightfully our.
This is the only fitting future for us as we are vastly superior to the any other lifeform of this universe.
Surely the Council understands how right we were taking that step and they will do what is in our best interest, appointing me as a new leader of our future conquests."
To Prototype's great dissapointment, the Council did not approve his actions.
Not even all of the Warborn were on his side - in fact only a roughly third part of their numbers agreed with this point of view. While he was praised within certain radical circles of Structural society, a general reaction was that of pure shock and disbelief.
Prototype was deposed and charged for a treason. He was, however, allowed to make a personal speech to the Council in his defence.
And that was beginning of the end of the Second Council and the Structure of old.
-"You have the nerve to brand me as a traitor, while I were the only one who did anything to save us in this hour of need...
To strip me from my honor and dignity, while you were hiding in your platinium houses, separating yourselves from all this misery caused by your own incompetence.
The Council... Bah!
There will be no more of this Council or any other, not after all of you will be punished for your treason of the Structure!"
Nothing could be more surprising for gathered elders than Prototype yelling those words as soon as he came to the Council chamber, and his loyal retainers did a quick work with dispatching guards.
But the greates horror had yet to come, as Prototype started to change his form.
Already hulking Structural started to grow, his armored skin splitting and shifting, changing its shape and color.
Replacing his former body of gold with the new appearance - sharp and spiked crimson red armor, completed by horned head and a pair of wings, as Prototype rejected his old identity.
Now his physical form perfectly matched his twisted personality - an image of pure cruelty and wrongness.
-"So if you couldn't stand me as the Prototype, then you will know me as the Lord Terror. The Supreme Ruler of the Structure, the one who will lead our species to the most glorious future...
Without any of you amongst living!"
Those were Terror's last words heard by the Council before all the elders were murdered by him.
THE LONGEST FALL:
This was the first accord of a new war, and soon this one proved to be even more destructive than the previous.
It became clear that Terror had this coup prepared from the long time, having his followers gathered and armed immediately and not giving loyalists any chance of fighting back.
Roughly third part of army sworn their loyalty to his cause and soon this force became known under the name of Aggressors. Soon they were joined by others disillusioned with the Structure of old.
Loyalist forces weren't completely helpless. Many of the Warborn and the System Patrol remained true to their military oath.
With all of the Council dead, loyalist were now governed by the military command and soon started to calling themselves the Protectors. After few a rather bloody defeats they managed to regroup and even regain some of the lost territories.
But unlike the first one, this war was slowly becoming a stalemate. With two factions of equal power, the Structure was falling into a state perpetual struggle and a devastation of proportions never before seen.
There was no turning point at the horizon, no end to this massacre.
Ironically, Terror was not the one destined to see the end of this war and it was his hubris that caused his own demise.
Enraged by millenia of fruitless warfare and his own inability to crush the resistance, Lord Terror devised an insane plan to use the starwells - a network of massive octagonal teleport gates long time ago built for delivering mined resources from the asteroid belt - for ejecting some of the asteroids into the Structure, destroying a large parts of the world along with his enemies.
It was the sheer insanity of this plan which ended with Terror betrayed by his own second-in-command and in the subsequent battle against Protectors even the tyrant's own army turned against him.
In the outcome the largest starwell imploded, consuming Lord Terror and rendering the whole teleport network unusable.
THE WAR UNENDING:
Today the Structure is only a shadow of its former glory.
Artificial world is divided between territories controlled by Aggressors and Protectors, and it's dark side is occupied by many independent city states populated by those who had no intentions of choosing sides - and now are very often hostile to both warring factions.
There is no real peace and last two millennias were a state of uneasy armistice, disrupted by small border skirmishes.
All cities of old are now lying in ruins, with all sides of this war hiding in massive fortresses, or secret bases. Old landscapes of glittering silver and gold are now replaced by rust and gunmetal gray.
Nobody can tell for how long this period of relative calm will last, with both Protector and Aggressor armies constantly preparing for yet another full scale war.
FATE OF THE BETRAYER:
Terror's ravaged body wasn't annihilated by the imploding starwell.
Tyrant's lifeless husk was thrown accidentally through the time and space to the different galaxy and was drifting in space, until it fell into gravity well of the third planet of the distant Type G sun and crashed into its surface.
It was 5,000 years ago and with time this planet became known as the Earth, and the crash site was in the South America.
There it remained buried until 1999 when it was discovered by ARGENT looking for new deposits of oil.
"Thousands of cycles ago we were glorious.
We could build wonders, we could perform miracles. Nobody could match us in Triangulum galaxy.
We could rival Malvans!
And now... Look at us now, look at what left of the Structure!
We are reduced to scavengers fighting over a carrion of a world...
And it's all because of greed and ambitions of a one man!
May Overlight preserve us all...
There is no end to this madness."
Archon Lightbringer, Supreme Commander of the Protectors
STRUCTURALS
Location: Triangulum Galaxy (catalogue number Messier 33 or NGC 598), very far from the Earth.
Intentions Toward Humanity: Neutral, Structurals have no knowledge about the Earth.
Propulsion Tech Level: Advanced (FTL ships able to cross Milky Way-sized galaxy within a month, antigravity propelled flight, starwells).
Military Tech Level: Advanced (energy projectors and force fields) but their level of military organisation is low - they are warriors, not soldiers.
Medical Tech Level: Highly Advanced (able to rebuild deceased Structural as long as brain is intact) but have next to none knowledge about organic biology.
Computer Tech Level: Highly Advanced but very often incompatible with technology of other species unless specially adapted for such interactions.
Physical Description: Tall (between 7 and 10 feet tall) armored humanoids made of various metallic alloys.
Homeworld: The Structure.
Government Type: Two large warring factions and a large number of independent city-states.
Territories: One solar system including one Dyson shell type artificial world and an asteroid belt.
Superpowered population level: High. While no known Structurals have superpowers they are able to upgrade themselves with various technologies giving them equivalent of metahuman powers. Known examples are flight, invulnerability, superstrength, built-in energy weapons and kinetic force projectors. Most powerful of them have built-in ability to manipulate cosmic power.
PHYSICAL BUILD:
An average Structural is between 7 and 10 feet tall. Majority of population is closer to 8 feet in height but few of them can reach even an extreme height of 11 feet.
Typical form is a humanoid of male or female shapes and proportions. Head is usually quite humanlike with solid glowing eyes, but few of them can have much more outlandish look - majority of Structurals have statesque bodies of great beauty and ideal proportions, but some of them are quite monstrous, at least by human standards. Structurals do not have any hair and their body is always metallic.
Structurals are synthetic species, there are no organic parts in their bodies. Despite being created and unable to sexual reproduction, they aren't exactly robots - there is no programming inside their brains and their bodies are built from highly specialised cells made from non-organic elements.
Every Structural begins his or her life as a blob of so-called "core matter" and then is placed into reproduction chamber where this substance is coded with its syntetic replication sequence which works not unlike DNA of organic creatures. This SRS code causes core matter to divide into various organs like skeleton, brain, nerves, armored plating and other mechanisms. After this roughly twenty hours long period a new synthezoid is complete - there are no child Structurals, every of them begins life as a fully adult person, though lacking any specialised knowledge.
Structurals do regenerate their wounds, though despite being much stronger and durable than humans (or almost any other non-superpowered organic lifeform), their level of regeneration isn't much better.
While they can heal internal mechanisms and things like lost eyes, they can't regenerate lost limbs - such damage must be fixed with replacement parts, and it's more complicated than simply attaching new arm. Any new body part must be customised to the user's SRS code, otherwise it will be rejected.
They do not regenerate immediately.
Healing any serious damage may take a few days, also they can't create new body parts out of thin air - to regenerate Structural must be provided with electricity and metallic materials.
Some structurals do have very efficient healing systems granting them with complete and almost immediate regeneration, but those are very rare and such ability is considered an unique superpower. At any rate it isn't anything common amongst Structurals.
In normal circumstances Structurals have no need for any sustenance except energy, which is usually obtained by consuming raw electricity.
Few of them also have upgraded energy systems and are able to feed on power sources like radiation or chemical fuel.
A very specific trait of Structurals as a civilisation is their approach to including technology into their bodies.
While they are unable to change their base configuration and are always humanoid in form, this species do not bother with using hand-held devices or small vehicles. Things like weaponry, flight or communication devices are simply built into their bodies or straight written into their SRS code.
A typical Structural warrior doesn't wear additional armor, hand-held rifle or jet pack. Instead, he or she can change arms into cannons, reconfigure skin into harder armored form, and can fly thanks to internal atigravity projectors.
Structurals also aren't very attached to their look. It's very common for them to change shapes and details of their bodies just like humans are used to changing makeup and clothes.
THE STRUCTURE.
Nobody, including Structurals themselves, knows who and why built the Structure.
From the beginning of its written history it was only a sole Dyson shell type world built around a single Type G star, with only other objects in its solar system being an external asteroid belt - the one very rich with many mineral resources.
It is speculated that so-called Creators were long extinct species of organic humanoids. This theory may be proven by the presence of water and inhabitable atmospheric layer on the internal sun oriented surface of the Structure (because Structurals themselves have no need for drinking or breathing), and by the fact that all Structurals have male or female personality pattern while not being able to sexual reproduction.
The last thing can be also considered a proof of the theory that the Structure was probably an autonomous manufacturing plant and its inhabitants were originated as a line of consumer goods.
100,000 years ago the Structure suddenly came to life, possibly awakened by the meteorite or other natural cataclysm, and its automated production lines gave life to the first generation of Structurals.
Not knowing who they are and why they were originated, the first generation arranged their world in their own way.
THE GOLDEN AGE:
First 50,000 years of the Structure were its Golden Age. A time of unmatched prosperity.
Artificial world was governed by the First Council. Poverty and famine were unknown to this society and art and science flourished. A calm and gentle species, Structurals freely traded with the rest of Triangulum galaxy.
External and always darkened surface of the Structure was made into astroports and mining facilities used for exploration of the nearby asteroid belt, while internal surface bathed in eternal sunlight was populated with glimmering cities and synthetic gardens, with silvery pinnacles towering above golden metallic trees.
By all means, it was a synthetic paradise.
There was no crime nor strife, and the only military organisation was small starfleet needed for chasing occasional pirates or foreign smugglers. The only elite fighting force was the System Patrol, a militant body consisting the most powerful and best trained warriors of the Structure - but they were only a few in numbers.
There was no end to the wealth and splendors of the Structure.
THE FIRST WAR:
Sadly, it was this wealth what has brought the end to the Golden Age.
50,000 years ago the Structure fell victim to the assault of a race of warlike organics.
Those invaders, for Structurals known simply as the Conquerors, were trying to seize control over the Structure's resources and to turn its inhabitants into a slave species.
Initially, war went badly for Structurals.
Their only military victories were claimed by System Patrol, otherwise synthezoids were vastly outnumbered and even though invaders technology wasn't up to the superior standards of the Structure, organics were much better trained and organised.
Losing one battle after another, with cities obliterated by invaders, leaders of the First Council were forced to the desperate measures - a new warlike line of Structurals was created.
Unlike previous peaceful generation, those new Structurals, in the course of war known as the Warborn, were made as aggressive as their opponents and coded with equally violent personalities.
This was the turning poin of the war.
Backed up with Structural technology, much better trained and much more durable than any organic soldiers, the Warborn were winning almost every battle against organics.
In the end, invaders were obliterated along with their invasion fleet.
THE PARADISE LOST:
War has been ended, but things were far from perfect.
The Structure was ravaged, with many of its settlements turned into seas of ruins. Marvels of science were lost during the wartime.
Many citizen lost everything to the flames of war.
To make things even worse, soon it became clear that many of the Warborn can't adapt easily to life in the time of peace.
They were violent and brutal, very often turning to life of crime.
Cities were rebuilt but the Golden Age was lost.
Next 10,000 years saw this once prosperous society slowly dissolving into social stratas, corrupted by crime and unrest. Meanwhile many of upper castes refused to notice it, instead closing themselves in their luxury places.
This was the time when even the System Patrol was very often forced to perform not their heroic duties, but to act as executors and enforcers of legal order - an armed arm of the Second Council, which was no longer able to keep things calm.
Then there was another problem. Because of war, Structurals no longer had any trust towards the other races and trade with the galaxy was no longer as common as before.
This growing paranoia also caused formation of the starfleet and a large standing army, composed mostly of the Warborn. This humongous war machine started to suck even more resources from crisis-ridden society.
THE SNAKE IN THE GARDEN:
Finally, came the man who claimed to have solution for all problems of the Structure.
The first of the Warborn. The one calling himself the Prototype.
In recognition of his merits during the First War, Prototype was promoted as a leader of all Structural military responding only to the ruling Council.
Many times he had criticized the weak and decadent Council and dissolving society, though never in a direct way thus not giving any reasons for his impeachment.
Finally, when situation reached the melting point, he did his move.
Gathering his personal fleet, Prototype made a pillaging raid on a small, but rich, planet inhabitated by peaceful population of organics.
While he refrained himself from performing a bloody massacre, his warriors quickly overwhelmed weak planetary defences and plundered that territory.
Then he came back to the Structure, offering this newly aquired wealth to the all Structurals along with his a rather clear message:
-"This is the new way for us, compatriots!
Nearly a lifetime ago we lost almost everything to the fleshlings, forced to hide amongst the ruins of our own cities, to fight a desparate war for retaining our own world.
But no more...
Look at it, look at our solution!
A single conquest yields us enough resources for setting things right, taking back from those fleshy beings what is rightfully our.
This is the only fitting future for us as we are vastly superior to the any other lifeform of this universe.
Surely the Council understands how right we were taking that step and they will do what is in our best interest, appointing me as a new leader of our future conquests."
To Prototype's great dissapointment, the Council did not approve his actions.
Not even all of the Warborn were on his side - in fact only a roughly third part of their numbers agreed with this point of view. While he was praised within certain radical circles of Structural society, a general reaction was that of pure shock and disbelief.
Prototype was deposed and charged for a treason. He was, however, allowed to make a personal speech to the Council in his defence.
And that was beginning of the end of the Second Council and the Structure of old.
-"You have the nerve to brand me as a traitor, while I were the only one who did anything to save us in this hour of need...
To strip me from my honor and dignity, while you were hiding in your platinium houses, separating yourselves from all this misery caused by your own incompetence.
The Council... Bah!
There will be no more of this Council or any other, not after all of you will be punished for your treason of the Structure!"
Nothing could be more surprising for gathered elders than Prototype yelling those words as soon as he came to the Council chamber, and his loyal retainers did a quick work with dispatching guards.
But the greates horror had yet to come, as Prototype started to change his form.
Already hulking Structural started to grow, his armored skin splitting and shifting, changing its shape and color.
Replacing his former body of gold with the new appearance - sharp and spiked crimson red armor, completed by horned head and a pair of wings, as Prototype rejected his old identity.
Now his physical form perfectly matched his twisted personality - an image of pure cruelty and wrongness.
-"So if you couldn't stand me as the Prototype, then you will know me as the Lord Terror. The Supreme Ruler of the Structure, the one who will lead our species to the most glorious future...
Without any of you amongst living!"
Those were Terror's last words heard by the Council before all the elders were murdered by him.
THE LONGEST FALL:
This was the first accord of a new war, and soon this one proved to be even more destructive than the previous.
It became clear that Terror had this coup prepared from the long time, having his followers gathered and armed immediately and not giving loyalists any chance of fighting back.
Roughly third part of army sworn their loyalty to his cause and soon this force became known under the name of Aggressors. Soon they were joined by others disillusioned with the Structure of old.
Loyalist forces weren't completely helpless. Many of the Warborn and the System Patrol remained true to their military oath.
With all of the Council dead, loyalist were now governed by the military command and soon started to calling themselves the Protectors. After few a rather bloody defeats they managed to regroup and even regain some of the lost territories.
But unlike the first one, this war was slowly becoming a stalemate. With two factions of equal power, the Structure was falling into a state perpetual struggle and a devastation of proportions never before seen.
There was no turning point at the horizon, no end to this massacre.
Ironically, Terror was not the one destined to see the end of this war and it was his hubris that caused his own demise.
Enraged by millenia of fruitless warfare and his own inability to crush the resistance, Lord Terror devised an insane plan to use the starwells - a network of massive octagonal teleport gates long time ago built for delivering mined resources from the asteroid belt - for ejecting some of the asteroids into the Structure, destroying a large parts of the world along with his enemies.
It was the sheer insanity of this plan which ended with Terror betrayed by his own second-in-command and in the subsequent battle against Protectors even the tyrant's own army turned against him.
In the outcome the largest starwell imploded, consuming Lord Terror and rendering the whole teleport network unusable.
THE WAR UNENDING:
Today the Structure is only a shadow of its former glory.
Artificial world is divided between territories controlled by Aggressors and Protectors, and it's dark side is occupied by many independent city states populated by those who had no intentions of choosing sides - and now are very often hostile to both warring factions.
There is no real peace and last two millennias were a state of uneasy armistice, disrupted by small border skirmishes.
All cities of old are now lying in ruins, with all sides of this war hiding in massive fortresses, or secret bases. Old landscapes of glittering silver and gold are now replaced by rust and gunmetal gray.
Nobody can tell for how long this period of relative calm will last, with both Protector and Aggressor armies constantly preparing for yet another full scale war.
FATE OF THE BETRAYER:
Terror's ravaged body wasn't annihilated by the imploding starwell.
Tyrant's lifeless husk was thrown accidentally through the time and space to the different galaxy and was drifting in space, until it fell into gravity well of the third planet of the distant Type G sun and crashed into its surface.
It was 5,000 years ago and with time this planet became known as the Earth, and the crash site was in the South America.
There it remained buried until 1999 when it was discovered by ARGENT looking for new deposits of oil.
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