Terminus Revolutions
From FABT
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17 February 765 CE - 25 August 812 CE |
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Strategic Terminian victory
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- "You may not see us as much of a threat, certainly not one that could make even the Council tremble. After all, we're just a band of mercenaries, pirates, syndicates, terrorists, and slavers of every stripe, free to do what we want so long as we don't cross the Ruler of Omega. You'd be right. But when united, the Terminus Systems has proven itself the Council's equal. Our collective might defeated two vorcha empires, beat back the Council once in battle and again in war, destroyed a pirate alliance, and more. Very rarely do we unify, but when we do, even the galaxy shakes to the march of our armies. But of course, none can get forget the most important unification of all: the Revolutions. The birth of the Terminus Systems. The dawn of our first unity. And oh yes, was our might a thing to behold."
- — 41st entry of the journal of an unknown Terminus soldier, dated 1464 CE.
The Terminus Revolutions, also known as the Terminian Wars of Independence, the Great Terminus War and as the Terminus Crisis, was a series of intermittent interstellar conflicts spanning across former Outer Council Space, which can be roughly categorized as a series of civil wars, escalating insurrectionist activity, uprisings, terrorist attacks, political upheaval and wars of independence, and began as early as 17 February 765 CE with the Korlusi insurgency, and ended as late as 25 August 812 CE with the Battle of Aquila and the formation of the Terminus Systems on 1 September of the same year. Following the end of the Krogan Rebellions, the galaxy was shattered. The Citadel Council was exhausted militarily, with the Asari Republics, Salarian Union, Greater Quarian Republic and the Hanar Primacy burdened with enormous war debt from having to fight sixty-four years of sustained conflict: while much of this debt had been relieved due to the reparations the former Tuchankan Empire had to pay to them, the galaxy was still inevitably falling towards a recession, which would then further deteriorate into a galactic depression 36 years later. The collapse of the Tuchankan Empire left huge swaths of the galaxy lacking proper government, and those that still held krogan imperial garrisons either formed their own rump states or formed military juntas. Heshtok, having been annexed by the krogan before the Rebellions, now found itself free of the krogan, but now with access to technology they weren't ready for as a society. What was left had been captured by Council occupation forces during the war, and remained under their sphere of control. However, out of all of the imperial remnants that proved the most troublesome, former Outer Council Space became the most tumultuous.
Forming the outer boundary of Council space, and frequently known by its inhabitants as the Terminus and the New World due to the myriads of untouched systems and clusters ripe for colonization in the region, Outer Council Space had been cut in two during the Krogan Rebellions, and nearly two thirds of it had been either annexed by the Tuchankan Empire before the war, or had been conquered during it. Before the war, the asari had dominated the eastern sphere of the region, while the quarians had been steadily expanding into its western side. When the war began, the Empire launched brutal campaigns of conquest into the area, subjugating a large portion of the area: when the war was over and the Empire dissolved, what remained were krogan rump states who refused to surrender, military juntas looking to form their own kingdoms and hegemonies, surviving Council holdouts and areas that had been liberated and were occupied by Council forces. The fragmented and disunified nature of the area made it a political nightmare for the Council, who now, after winning a massive war, now had to go about the troublesome and tedious task of reunifying Outer Council Space and bringing it back into the galactic community. Operation Slayer's Pact was commissioned almost immediately upon war's end, dedicated to rounding up the krogan remnants that plagued Outer and Inner Council space and defeating them one by one, until nothing was left. Of this, six targets were principle on their minds: the krogan-occupied starfort of Omega that was still held by the 11th Warband; the four imperial rump states of Garvug, Daratar, the Skepsis system and Kattegar; and the Military Junta of Elevazion and the PCIR in the Valhallan Threshold. However, as it would turn out, these krogan remnants would be the least of the Council's issues, as a much greater threat was beginning to rise up in opposition to both.
In the beginning, several groups began to rise up across the galaxy in opposition to either the krogan remnants, the Council, or both. The most radical and prominent of these groups were the Korlusi Popular Freedoms League on Korlus, led by their founder and leader Tarisu Ietis. Tarisu's ideas for an independent state that didn't answer to the Council or the Tuchankan Empire began to rise and become popular among the people of Korlus, who feared the turians planned to bring their militarily autocratic governance to Korlus and enforce it. As it was, these protests were initially peaceful, but as the turians began to use Korlus as a military staging base for waging their war on the krogan, thus leading to a larger turian presence, the protests became larger and Tarisu began to petition the Council for a withdrawal. When this was denied, Tarisu formed the KPFL's paramilitary arm, and successfully petitioned the Korlusi government for the right to establish it as the official Korlusi defense force, thus eroding the need for the turians. When the Rebellions ended, the turian military was expected to pull out, but it didn't, and instead maintained its presence in the name of 'national security' and maintaining the peace: in reality, the Council was concerned that any of the four krogan rump states would attempt to capture Korlus, as it was an important trading station and transport hub for the Empire. This would have been begrudgingly accepted, if it wasn't for an incident that led to the deaths of six turian army troopers on patrol near Choquo that was then blamed on the KPFL. Tarisu denied responsibility for the attack, but the turian army used it as justification for raiding a KPFL armory. The resulting protest by KPFL party members turned into chaos as the turian forces used riot control equipment to disperse the crowd, ultimately leading to two deaths and 40 arrests. The next day, the Korlusi insurgency began, and would continue for the full 47 year duration of the Revolutions.
The Korlusi rebellion was only the beginning, however. On the asari colony of Illium, another organization advocating for greater autonomy, the Sisters' Army for Democracy, rose up to challenge the Nos Astran Planetary Council, sharing many of the same concerns the KPFL had about the turians, while also harboring feelings of resentment towards the Thessian government, arguing that their relentless taxation, economic strangulation of the planet, and their near-total oversight of Illium's trade practices meant that the Republic of Illium felt less like a true republic, and more of a glorified client state of Thessia. This dispute would end up escalating from a small rebellion to civil war, with the Illium Defense Force waging war with SAD forces throughout the streets of Nos Astra. Later down the line, the turian general Drecuns Tanculus, roughly two months after successfully defeating and crushing the Chiefdom of Kattegar, suddenly cut off all communication with his superiors and went rogue. Taking his forces and declaring himself Primarch of Kattegar, Tanculus rose a large army of followers around him, many of them even former krogan soldiers who had surrendered to him in return for serving in his army. Among these surrendering troops was the self-proclaimed former chieftain of Kattegar, Khurdok Chaggu, who had overthrown the chieftain before him just days before Tanculus' invasion. Khurdok proved his loyalty to Tanculus many times over as the turian went to war against his former brethren, even elevating to the status of his chief enforcer. As Tanculus went, his army grew in size, attracting criminals, pirates, mercenaries and slavers to his cause as he waged his campaign of conquest and glory: the Thessian Rangers, newly formed Winged Chevaliers, Emerald Army, Creedsworn, and more all joined him, and even Ezyn'Kannos, last surviving rogue spectre of the First Spectre War, joined him as an advisor. As Tanculus' retinue grew, so did the threat he posed to the Council, especially once he set his sights upon the biggest prize of all: Omega.
As turian troops became embroiled putting down an insurgency on Korlus, Illium fell into civil war and Tanculus began his military campaigns against the Council and krogan remnants alike, other similar instances would gradually take place, including the formation of the Interplanetary Quadrumvirate, an association of four pirates who saw an opportunity to unify their manpower and resources to form an unstoppable pirate alliance: the Quadrumvirate would enter conflict with Tanculus' Revolutionary Army on multiple occasions, although the two powers would fight each other to a stalemate at the Battle of Titan-Rosetta. Another faction arose near the quarian border, spearheaded by the quarian Sons of Rannoch PMC, rose up on the then-quarian world of Boro in the Pylos Nebula and seized control of the main settlement, demanding that the quarian government recognize their secession from the Greater Republic. As was the case with Korlus, the quarians took a zero tolerance policy for inciting insurrection, and ordered the deployment of 20,000 troops from the Greater Rannochian Army to restore peace in the region and, if need be, expel the Sons of Rannoch from Boro. The Boron Uprising resulted in the Sons of Rannoch putting up fierce resistance, and the quarian army would find itself pinned down in a sustained, lenghty battle for control of the planet. Meanwhile, the Council attempted to assault and capture Omega from the krogan in Operation Hushed Casket in 769 CE but failed, failing to breach the station's defenses: lacking the willpower and necessity to really capture the station, the Council abandoned the operation and left the krogan in control of it.
These conflicts spread and proliferated during the period between 764 CE and 790 CE, which is collectively known as the "Rebellions Period" of the Revolutions. In 791 CE, the Revolutions heated up significantly when the many Terminian rebellions truly began to unite. The Council, believing that the Revolutions posed a real and constant threat to their attempts to stabilize the region, used methods outside of the military in an attempt to keep the rebellions separate and disorganized. Despite these efforts, the eventual unification of the different criminal organizations appeared inevitable: their causes were far too similar, and their objectives mutual. The first of these alliances began when Tanculus brought an end to his 15 year-long war with the Quadrumvirate when the four pirate quadrumvirs agreed to discuss terms with him. It was this meeting where Tanculus persuaded the four pirate kings to unite their power with him, arguing that they should not be fighting each other, but instead bringing their power to bear on the Council and declare their independence, creating a world free of tyrannic authority and embracing absolute and unquestioned freedom. This military alliance was called the Grand Insurrectionist Army, and it would be the precursor to the Terminus Systems. This alliance gradually subsumed several smaller would-be rebellions, who saw that they could not succeed without their more powerful allies. In just a fortnight, the Council finally had a true threat to their power, and measures were taken in an attempt to undermine the Terminus alliance, largely to no aveil, as Tanculus was quickly able to rat out spies and informants within his ranks, and helped his Quadrumvirate allies in doing so as well. In 800 CE, Tanculus chose to prove to his allies what he could do by successfully attacking and conquering Omega, which the Quadrumvirate wasn't convinced could be done, as even the Council had failed time and time again, but Tanculus was determined. Finally, in mid 800 CE, Tanculus executed his plan: hijacking krogan resupply transports and infiltrating the station. The plan worked, with his strike teams bringing down Omega's defenses and allowing his fleet to attack the station in force and take it. Upon capturing the station, Tanculus proclaimed his victory and titled himself Ruler of Omega.
The victory was just what Tanculus needed to inspire the other alliances as to the possibility of their ultimate independence, and served to motivate what few had not joined with him to begin attempts at outreach. The Sons of Rannoch, who had begun to lose ground to the quarian army, sent out calls for Tanculus to help a fellow Terminian ally, effectively promising his power to him: similar envoys came from the SAD on Illium and eventually even the KPFL on Korlus, and before long, all had joined the Grand Insurrectionist Army. With a strong, impregnable base of operations on Omega, and staging grounds for further rebellions, the Council was beginning to realize that the situation was beginning to deteriorate and their grip was becoming unstable: however, they would not risk direct military intervention just yet, as they were not ready for another full-scale war so soon after the Rebellions had ended. For the next eleven years of the Revolutions, the GIA swept through the Terminus, securing system after system, and conquering those who wished to remain loyal to the Council. The Boron conflict escalated when Tanculus reinforced the Sons with troops of his own, even putting Ezyn'Kannos in command of the TRA forces deployed there, and Tanculus also sent troops to Korlus to help them deal with the turians, utilizing tactics he knew would take even the Hierarchy off balance.
In 808 CE, the final big player joined the fray: the Confederation of Heshtok, an extremely unstable vorcha government that had gained control of roughly 30 percent of the planet but also had access to the surplus of krogan warships that had been left there when the vorcha overthrew their krogan occupiers during the Rebellions, launched a sudden and unexpected invasion of Illium. The SAD and Illium government put aside their differences and helped to repel the vorcha invasion, easily defeating the disorganized and vicious attack. While the Quadrumvirate viewed the vorcha as a threat to their growing power, Tanculus saw an opportunity to further galvanize the Terminus, knowing that Heshtok fell within the boundaries of what Tanculus envisioned for the Terminus Systems. As such he personally visited the planet with his own forces and convinced to vorcha to join the GIA and to stop their attacks on their allies in return for granting them most of the Shrike Abyssal to expand into and their right to self-govern. The vorcha begrudgingly agreed to it, with Tanculus leaving behind a 'peacekeeping force' to ensure the vorcha's compliance to their agreement. As such, the final player in the Revolutions joined the GIA. By 810 CE, the Council was beginning to see the inevitable and was prepared to meet with Tanculus to accept Terminian secession with the exception of Illium, which was coveted as a major port and thus important to the asari economy. These hopes died in early 812 CE when the SAD successfully overthrew the Planetary Council, and became the new ruling government: in just a few hours, they declared their intention to secede from the Council and the Thessian Republics. This sparked outrage from the asari, and the Asari President promised "dire consequences". Within a month, the turians had agreed to supply ships and troops to a joint-invasion fleet to uproot and overthrow the rebels and restore the old government. Illium saw was about to occur, but knew its own modest defense fleet could not hope to repel a dedicated Council task force, and thus called to Tanculus for aid as per their alliance.
Tanculus did not hesitate, despite his hopes to avoid open conflict with the Council. Assembling a large force of 240 vessels from his various allies and dependencies, Tanculus' task force met with the Illium defense fleet on the 17 August. Having received intel of Tanculus' fleet, the quarians and hanar were asked to commit vessels of their own, so they did. With an intention to catch Tanculus' fleet by surprise, the Council task force left port a full week early. Tanculus too received word of their departure however, and chose to go on the offensive, surprising the task force before it could even reach Illium. As it was, the two forces met in the Aquila system of the Ismar Frontier on 25 August. Knowing his fleet would not stand a chance against the superior Council warships, Tanculus' forces used hit-and-run tactics to divide and separate the Council forces, allowing his ships to begin gradually harassing and eliminating enemy ships one by one. When the Council commander saw that they were hopelessly outmatched and that he had lost control of the battle, he ordered a hasty withdrawal back through the relay. Knowing that they had failed to stop Illium's secession, the Council instead chose to meet with Tanculus, with the location of the meeting being on the neutral ground of the planet Etamis. In an historic moment, the Council officially recognized the independence of the Terminus Systems and agreed to halt all hostilities with the new power. In regards to the subject of Illium's independence, and in the best interests of both parties, a compromise was struck: Illium would join the Terminus Systems and would, for all intents and purposes, be independent...however, in the new Constitution of Illium, it would recognize itself as still being a part of the Thessian Republics, and while allowed to operate with autonomy, would still remain an autonomous region in all but name. Upon signing the Treaty of Etamis, the Council also agreed to withdraw from a new region called the Attican Traverse, which would act as a buffer zone between the two powers. With this agreement, the Revolutions ended, and the Terminus Systems were born.
The legacy of this conflict was obvious: the rise of the Terminus Systems. Where once Council rule had extended over over most of the galaxy, the Revolutions saw its power and influence reduced to a mere fraction of what it had once been. Where the Krogan Rebellions had been the beginning of the end, the Revolutions had been the final nail in the coffin, ending all hopes of restoring the former pan-galactic empire the Council had once reigned over. However, this is often misunderstood as the overall end of the Council's superpower status, which is far from the truth: while having lost a large swath of its territory, the Council wouldn't begin its real decline until during the Reaper War, where it would shortly collapse towards the end of the conflict, replaced by its brief post-war successor the New Council. In reality, the Council suffered very little from the loss of their territory...in fact, it proved to only increase their power. Outer Council Space had been an enormous burden for the Council to properly maintain a presence in, and even with the Turian Hierarchy adding their enormous military might to those of the asari and salarians, it would still prove too large a region to effectively police. In reality, the Council was put in a better position by losing the region: trade was maintained by the two powers, leading to a minimal drop in income, and allowing the Council to better utilize its resources. As a result, the Council's defeat in this conflict is often extremely exaggerated, with many discredited sources attributing the beginning of the Council's decline with the Revolutions.
On the other hand, the Terminus Systems themselves, although believed by the Council that it would collapse within a hundred years or at least after Tanculus' death, persisted for over a millenia. Tanculus, while technically the leader of the Terminus, was its leader in name only...in peace-time, the Terminus was exactly what it intended to be: a lawless, capitalist anarchy filled with planetary-states, pirate republics, and more. Any and all enterprises were embraced, making the Terminus a hotbed for criminal activity. Tanculus himself maintained the moniker of 'Ruler of Omega', making him king over Omega and the Sahrabarik system and nothing else. Tanculus' army was disbanded and heavily reduced to become the Ruler's Syndicate, which was the personal organization and private army of the Ruler of Omega, although Khurdok Chaggu would remain his principle enforcer (and later advisor after Ezyn'Kannos left to wage his own war against the Council). While the only rule of the station was NOT to attempt to work against or attack Tanculus' syndicate went unspoken, it wouldn't be until the rule of Aria T'Loak further down the line that she embraced it as the 'don't fuck with Aria' rule. However, enshrined as per the Terminus Accords (the only real law that could be considered as such for the Terminus Systems, and with very few lawful provisions that are largely in place to counter later Council annexation or aggression), the Ruler of Omega held several treaties that allowed them to order the assembly of a Great Terminian Army to combat any exterior or interior threat, largely to counter civil war or foreign aggression. Provisions were in place in case the Ruler attempted to abuse the Accords by assembling an army to force a dictatorship, detailing exact and detailed measures for a justified overthrow of the Ruler in these cases: from the Terminus' inception, to the date of its collapse, this provision fortunately never had to be called upon.
Tanculus himself only ever assembled the Great Army twice during his reign, once against Snaker the Conqueror when he declared war on the entire galaxy in 839 CE, and again when Thaw IV attempted the same 44 years later in 883 CE. While fighting to kill Thaw IV, Tanculus sustained wounds in battle and later fell into a coma on the way back to Omega and never woke up. Khurdok Chaggu took control as Tanculus' Regent, and upon confirmation of his passing, secured his position and became Tanculus' successor. Khurdok himself would rule for nine centuries afterwards, until he was violently overthrown by Aria T'Loak, kept alive as her trophy and renamed to the mocking epithet "Patriarch". Aria herself would rule for 400 years, briefly being overthrown and succeeded unofficially by Oleg Petrovsky in 2185 CE before retaking the station and re-establishing her power. Despite this, the Terminus Systems did not survive beyond the Reaper War, and would not re-emerge afterwards.