Wrex's War
From FABT
- "I'd like to join you, Shepard, just like the old days. But I've got important work to do here...somebody needs to ready this planet for the Reapers, and I'm the only one willing to do so. I'll fight and win, just as I've always done, and drag this planet to newfound glory whether it likes it or not."
- — Urdnot Wrex explaining his plans for Tuchanka and why he can't rejoin the Normandy Squad to Commander Shepard.
Wrex's War, also known as the War for Tuchanka and the Tuchankan Unification War, was a civil conflict between the forces of the then-newly formed United Krogan Clans under Clan Urdnot and the Tuchankan Traditionalists under Clan Weyrloc that began on 30 July 2183 CE with the return of Urdnot Wrex and his declaration of war upon the Traditionalists, and ended on 5 March 2186 CE with the Traditionalists signing the Urdnot Pact and concluded the Krogan Civil Wars. The conclusion of the thirty-year long Jarrod's War in 1572 CE was marked by Urdnot Jarrod's betrayal of sacred krogan values by attempting to murder his son at the Hollows, a krogan holy site where spilling blood is forbidden, with Wrex surviving the attempt on his life and killing Jarrod in the process: while Jarrod's death allowed Wrex to step into the power vacuum left by his late father, his father's desecration to him represented how far the krogan had fallen, and that his people were beyond saving: instead of assuming the mantle of chieftain, Wrex left into self-imposed exile to become a bounty hunter, refusing to return to Tuchanka: this left Urdnot Wreav, Wrex's younger blood brother, to take over, who pulled Urdnot out of the Krogan Civil Wars, adopting a stance of neutrality for the next 600 years, greatly weakening the Traditionalists and Clan Weyrloc to succeed Urdnot as the leaders of the Traditionalist faction and to continue their intermittent wars against the Reformists. It wouldn't be until 2183 CE when Wrex joined the Normandy Squad, an rag-tag multi-species squad formed by Commander Shepard to defeat Saren Arterius, that he slowly came around in his beliefs with Shepard's help, eventually befriending the human. Upon discovery of the Reaper threat and the Battle of the Citadel, Wrex was already resolved to return to Tuchanka and make plans for restoring his people to their former glory, with the added motivation of preparing them for the Reapers. Wrex arrived back on Tuchanka on 24 July 2183 CE, defeating his brother Wreav in a contest for the throne of Clan Urdnot and becoming chieftain of Clan Urdnot. After consolidating his position, on 30 July, Wrex assembled a meeting with all the Reformist leadership in the Hollows, where he declared his intention that Clan Urdnot would not only join them, but assume leadership over them, with Wrex's declaration of war against all Traditionalist clans made clear, and that he would not stop until all of Tuchanka was finally united. While not sold on the Reaper explanation, all of the Reformists gladly accepted Wrex's command, and with the official formation of the United Krogan Clans on that same day, Wrex made his declaration of war official.
The war would be ultimately fought under one single guiding policy that would later be dubbed "Wrexism", which instituted a doctrine of total war upon all Traditionalists and other factions violently opposed to his plans for unification, and that clans defeated by his Reformist forces would be given a choice: join the UKC, or be branded uraysh and be completely annihilated. The Traditionalists were slow in their response to Wrex's declaration of war, spending much of their time discussing where they should attack whilst Wrex took decisive action: striking the Traditionalists before they could attack him first, Wrex quickly seized several strategically significant strongholds across Hagalok that Traditionalist clans Clan Jorgal and Clan Talyth had seized during the War for Hagalok just a year prior. Known as the Reclamation of Hagalok, Wrex achieved total victory over Jorgal and Talyth in just 24 hours, cutting off their lines of retreat and forcing both to surrender, with chieftains Jorgal Tarmo and Talyth Wrugg submitting to Urdnot and joining the UKC. Pushing the Traditionalists completely out of Hagalok, Wrex then rallied a defense in preparation for the Traditionalist counterattack, which he rightly assumed would be reckless and disorganized, owing to their need to respond quickly to any humiliation dealt them, and during the Defense of Hagalok, the Traditionalist army launched six attacks that were each repulsed with heavy casualties, quickly forcing Traditionalist commander Bragus Nuzk to retreat. In the following months, Wrex would launch fresh offensives across the planet, capturing one Traditionalist stronghold after another, subsuming more and more clans into the UKC. In one particular assault, a large UKC army under Wrex finally captured Piryloc after Clan Gatatog was forced to surrender it in order to survive, marking a devastating blow for the Traditionalist as they lost one of their founding members. Gatatog's surrender however was a ruse to plant spies inside Urdnot Keep to monitor UKC activities and plan Wrex's assassination, with Gatatog Uvenk himself personally remaining at the Keep to keep an eye on Wrex.
Two years later in 2185 CE, the UKC controlled much of the planet, although the Traditionalists still boasted powerful forces and Weyrloc Guld was resolved never to surrender, and Wrex was not willing to risk assaulting Weyrloc Keep due to its strong defenses, fanatical warriors and a Blood Pack legion known as the Sons of Guld, which had broken away from the PMC and declared total fealty to Guld as a result of his promise to cure the genophage, of which he had enlisted the assistance of Maelon Heplorn, an ex-STG operative, to pull off and conduct experiments at the Hagalok Hospital, of which Weyrloc commanded a considerable presence, but despite all of this, the UKC were decidedly winning the war, slowly wittling down the Traditionalists as they lost stronghold after stronghold, only able to chalk up a couple of wins here and there in the overall scheme of the war, gains which would be reversed when Wrex personally led forces to retake any lost territory. Wrex's reputation caused many Traditionalist clans to even abandon their cause willingly, convinced to join Wrex out of respect and because they were convinced their ideology was wrong: most however did not, and continued to fight. In September 2185 CE, Uvenk saw an opportunity when the Normandy Squad visited the planet, bringing with them a confused, newly born tank-bred krogan that was granted the right to perform his rite of passage in the hopes of joining Clan Urdnot: this krogan, named Grunt at the time, was tank-grown to be a perfect pre-genophage krogan, essentially a supersoldier, and possessing none of the degenerative genes passed down over the generations throughout all krogan post-Krogan Rebellions. Initially believing Grunt to be an abomination, he was left shocked and impressed by Grunt's killing of the thresher maw in his rite, an accomplishment no krogan had achieved in their rite of passage since Urdnot Wrex himself, well over a thousand years prior. Hoping to manipulate Grunt into joining Clan Gatatog in return for killing Wrex, he was instead battled and killed by Grunt, who saw through Uvenk's machinations. Upon informing Wrex of Uvenk's treachery, Wrex sent forces to raze Gatatog Hall and wipe the clan from existence, demonstrating fully how he dealt with traitors and saboteurs. Not long after, his scouts reported Weyrloc Guld's operation and he began marshalling forces to attack the hospital, launching a full-scale offensive against the entrenched Weyrloc positions while the Normandy Squad inserted through their rear lines. The massive battle resulted in the annihilation of the Sons of Guld, along with the death of Guld and his best warriors, and the capture of the hospital: Maelon's operation was stopped and data on the cure taken and wiped on-site by Mordin Solus, something which Wrex knew about and allowed to happen, knowing that it was not time for a cure. Taking advantange of Weyrloc's weakened state, Wrex took his forces and attacked Weyrloc Keep, successfully capturing the keep and putting it to the torch, wiping out Clan Weyrloc and crippling the Traditionalist leadership.
Guld's death abruptly marked a change in the tide of the war. Whereas the Traditionalists had been holding out and willing to wage a war of attrition with the UKC, the sudden and violent removal of both Clan Gatatog and Weyrloc in just one month, two major players in the Traditionalists and founding members, threw the faction into disarray, erupting into a civil war where the most powerful Traditionalist factions fought to attain the mantle of leadership. The war tore through the Trisek'lok region, a strategically and historically significant site for the krogan and one which had alluded Wrex in his bid to control all of Tuchanka, with the Traditionalists holding tightly onto Trisek'lok City and its domains, understanding the significance their capture by the UKC would mean in the overall state of the war. Despite this, their civil war weakened their ability to defend it, and after Clan Cokador was victorious over the other factions, Wrex made his move, deploying several armies deep into Trisek'lok to take advantage of the disorganized and war-battered Traditionalist forces. Following the Fall of Trisek'lok City, the Traditionalists scattered in a messy retreat, with Clan Cokador rallying what forces they could to make a desperate last stand at Uemrek, the last city of Durydok to remain free of UKC control. With the loss of Trisek'lok, the UKC assumed control over nine tenths of the planet, and it was clear the Traditionalists had lost, with their stand at Uemrek being a last ditch move of spite to make the UKC pay for every inch of ground they took. Wrex did not buy into this however, and on January 2186 CE, his forces arrived outside Uemrek and dug in for a siege, bringing up artillery to continually pound and bombard the city from all directions for weeks, and using makeshift hammers to lure in thresher maws to sow chaos amongst the Traditionalist lines. Finally, in February, the UKC forces moved in: weakened and their morale shook by the constant bombardment and thresher maw assaults, and their supplies running low, the Traditionalists were in no position to offer up any formidable resistance. Most of the remaining clans collapsed and surrendered, with Clan Cokador and Clan Korten fighting UKC troops block by block for eighteen hours before chieftain Cokador Dad gave the order to cease hostilities and surrender. On the 5th of March Cokador Dad, and the other remaining Traditionalist leadership, captured or otherwise, gathered at Urdnot Keep to sign the Urdnot Pact, formally acknowledging their admission into the UKC where they agreed to never take up arms against another krogan clan again. With the Traditionalist signing, their faction was dissolved, and the UKC achieved global dominance over all of Tuchanka, birnging an end to Wrex's War, and more importantly, concluding the Krogan Civil Wars after 1400 years of continuous warfare.