Sagwalli Revolt/Great Revolt (one thing led to another)
LIR: Hey Sagwalli Templar guard my stuff while I invade humanity towards the end of The Unification War when they're at their weakest.
Sagwalli Templar: OK. *some time passes in which the Sagwalli Templar learn that worshiping the Toppers is not a common thing for races other than the Sagwalli and Tartles* WOAH this is not jiggy worship the Toppers right now or else!
LIR citizens: No. Hey government can you do something about this?
Government: *secretly wants everyone to be worshiping the Toppers* Ahem um oh no Sagwalli Templar this is very naughty of you *winks* you're supposed to be guarding the LIR you naughty boy *winks again*
LIR citizens: Why are you winkin- YOU SUNNUVABITCH!
*Templar and citizen militias/megacorp armies proceed to beef it out, with the latter wanting to dismantle the Templar. Numerous empires outside the LIR invade, including the empire of the Avians, because of the opportunities presented in gaining territory and crippling the LIR.*
LIR military: *was most of the way to humanity and looks over shoulder* yikes guess we're turning back to clean that up guys really a shame it took a lot of time to organise this and whatnot.
Sagwalli Templar: *iz rekked*
LIR: Okay so we still haven't dealt with the invasions BUT hey guess what we're not punishing the Templ-
*decades of bruh level violence ensue as warlords rise, the military faces high desertion rates combined with said deserters joining other factions, warlords rising up wherever power vacuums happen to be, etc.*
LIR: Wow... I'm alive! No idea how but I sure pulled through there 'ey didn't I guys?
Various factions, outside empires that gained territory, etc: *chuckles in concessions made by the LIR for peace, including giving territory and allowing warlords to maintain control over areas so long as they paid taxes, but still mad the Templar only got slaps on the wrists in the form of some of its leaders being executed and some privilege loss*
LIR: Yeah laugh while you can it ain't gonna last. *spends a chonky chonk of time (~150 years) proving that to be the case, reconquering old territory, assassinating warlords, re-granting privileges to the Sagwalli Templar, etc*
The Conflict
Prelude
Who thought it would be a good idea to leave Fascist Space Isis But On Steroids to guard people who didn't follow the same religion or ideology as them? Who thought it would be a good idea to not punish them for the thing they were obviously gonna do?
Battlefield
Everywhere.
Conditions
Varied massively. Generally not very nice.
The Engagement
There's a whole lot of variety when this many species are involved, across this many planets, across such vast distances, with numerous outside forces getting involved.
Outcome
The LIR survived but lost around 15% of its territory to outside forces and 60% of what it had left was now under the control of tax-paying warlords.
Aftermath
Assassinations, mini-wars, flinging of the Sagwalli Templar into crusades against any warlords who tried winging it and outside empires, political confusion, an explosion of piracy, the LIR's economy being in shambles, humanity getting to avoid any serious LIR invasions for around 200 years - only having to face individual warlords looking to curry favour and the like rather than the full force of the LIR - by which point humanity was gangsta af and could handle itself anyway.
Historical Significance
Legacy
It's all a matter of perspective. To the Toppers in the government it was a confusing time of "yay people being forced to worship us" turning into "oh no this backfired BADLY".
To the warlords and those who serve them, it was a time of opportunity that led to the increased prosperity in their territory (no joke on average things are far better under them and the Autonomous Conquered (if you surrender you get to keep more autonomy, which was basically the deal given to the warlords) than in the main LIR).
For the pirates it was a time of wealth. For the outside empires, as long as they lasted, it was a time of revenge and hope.
For the Templar, it was a time of "yo what?", followed by "hooray an actual cause to use my lifetime of military training for!", followed by "wait why are we losing", followed by "wow thanks for the save, Toppers... the humiliation still stings tho".
In Literature
A human couple fleeing The LIR or League of Intelligent Races for vague piracy-related reasons were able to collectively write 37 ebooks detailing the events of the war. Each book would have an equivalent to ~10,000 pages in a word document if the text were lowered to size 5. None of these books covered the same events. It's ridiculous.
Technological Advancement
Sure you've got space-compression, plasma weapons and so on but far more interesting were the cases of entire armies just "making do" with whatever was available against other armies doing the same. Ever seen a Claws wielding basic household utensils against a Bulls who seems to have mistaken an entire tree for a sword?
Included under Conflict
Conflict Type
War
Battlefield Type
Space
Start Date
2222
Ending Date
*no clear ending date* ~2263 is where things mostly calmed down, with continued small-scale conflict for many more decades.
Conflict Result
Technically speaking, nobody really lost, even if they didn't exactly win either.
Belligerents
Strength
Chonky
Casualties
Xtra Chonky
Objectives
Regain control of the LIR.
Strength
Casualties
Around 40% of the Sagwalli population and 3% of the Tartles. That 3% of the Tartles accounts for around 14x as many deaths as the Sagwalli ones.
Objectives
Force everyone into their stupid religion.
Warlords
Led by
Strength
Not usually that much at first but those who rose up were all genius strategists, as there would initially be tonnes of warlords in an area and the most gangsta would come out on top. They fought one another a lot as well but were also capable of working together whenever there was mutual benefit in doing so, even if usually against other warlords.
Casualties
Around 23% of those who lived in Warlord territory died fighting for their warlords or at the hands of them. This figure is likely even higher, probably at 42%, as many deaths were unrecorded.
Objectives
It varied between individuals. Some warlords killed and took over from previous warlords for revenge or because the previous warlords were oppressive and then ended up just having to wing it from there. Others wanted to throw off the chains of the LIR or resist invading outside empires or even other warlords. Many wanted to push across their ideologies. Some just wanted power. It gets even messier when talking of those who served them.
Strength
Working together, they were incredibly effective - especially while striking the snake's body while the fangs were busy elsewhere.
Casualties
They really put their all into it. It was a rare opportunity. One empire even lost 90% of their population to the front lines while machines produced all the weapons they used - and that was while using robotniks as well.
Objectives
Grab territory/resources/population, weaken the LIR, promote their ideologies, be in better bargaining positions with the LIR to not get screwed over. Many even surrendered right away when the LIR military showed up, only to use their newly acquired power to bargain for the highest levels of autonomy and lowest taxes possible, while others like The Great Khanate just held up their middle fingers and continuously destroyed the LIR forces that were sent at them, knowing the LIR's forces were too thin-stretched for anything too behemothish to come at them.
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