Eclipse
The empire created by Matok in the Second Age, also known as the Great Enemy. It sought to unify the world under its banner of strong leadership and the philosophy that under all the civilities of sapient beings lurked a primal desire for chaos and blood.
Public Agenda
The Eclipse was designed to be ruthlessly efficient, and its governing officials did not hesitate to use violence and terror to check the populations of the empire.
With its uniquely well-armed forces, the Eclipse overwhelmed its neighbors with brutal lightning strikes, after which any remaining organized opposition was swiftly snuffed out by collaborateurs and enforcers from the Ministry of Inquisitorial Affairs. Great strides were made in bringing a twisted form of "order" to all within Matok's reach, with an unknown number of Humans and Orcs forced to feed the Eclipse's frontlines, or even be used as living shields in Eclipse campaigns. Matok appointed tyrannical mage-rulers to lead the Ministry of Productivity in squeezing out every last resource they could to feed the escalating war effort.
Even centuries after its annihilation at the hands of the Alliance, the extremely human-supremacist and ethnocentric ideas propagated by the Eclipse persist in various forms. Worse, certain aspects of its scientific research were picked up by the victors, with the Kingdom of Decia denying any use of the data from Eclipse soul gem research and causing international controversy when spies reported Decian research into atom-splitting alchemy and portal-making rituals.
History
The early history of the Eclipse, first named the Kingdom of Sol, is not well-documented, due to various attempts at destroying materials that glorified the Great Enemy. At its beginnings in the Second Age, the proto-Eclipse seemed rather orthodox. This changed upon their invasion of their neighbors, the Koraqi empire.
Despite a lack of provocation, the Kingdom of Sol showed no mercy for the inhabitants of Koraq, systematically wiping out cultural treasures and forcing the so-called "subhumans" into camps. The Great Enemy encouraged unrestrained scientific experimentation, to the point of live vivisections, as long as it benefitted the Eclipse, with predictable results for these newly-conquered peoples. A policy of appeasement was advocated by the Bysian powers of the era, who were willing to put aside defense pacts with a defunct Koraq in the belief that the Eclipse would be satisfied with its newly-gained strategic positions, at least until the rest of Bysia was readied for war.
Over a decade passed, with Koraq written off by the rest of Bysia in the hopes that the Kingdom of Sol would look no further. Tensions rose at times, but never reached critical mass even when Sol demonstrated increasingly sophisticated technologies until 12 BV, where a naval treaty was rejected by the kingdom.
War with its neighbors began in 11 BV, and rapidly escalated as even far-off lands such as the Appachian Strongholds and the Bysian Realms were dragged into the fighting.
The Kingdom of Sol wasted little time in rebranding itself as the Eclipse, revealing a staggering amount of hidden factories and stockpiles accrued since the Koraqi Massacre. Any doubt over the existence of the prophesied Great Enemy was erased by this act.
Disbandment
After losing the Great War, the few prisoners in the hands of the Alliance were typically executed for their crimes against Creation. The surviving populace was repatriated to their homes if possible, but usually had to make do with paltry reconstruction aid. Rebuilding what had been lost took decades, if not centuries, but the most glaring scars left by the Eclipse were slowly healed by the victors.
Military
Despite hostile relations with the squabbling territories that bordered its own, an above-average level of industrialization, and somewhat repressive politics even for its time, Sol appeared very unsuspicious. Around 30 BV, however, foreigners noted a buildup of its fleet and standing army, which was followed by invading the small nation of Koraq, where pike and shot, explosive artillery shells, and the first armored trains utterly steamrolled Koraqi defenses. This is where the influence of Matok is believed to have started in earnest, although exact numbers are difficult to pin on the existence of the being.
Although the dwarves of Appachia may have been the most technologically sophisticated people of their era, the Great War provided the world their first glimpses into the horrors of industrialized warfare, where mass production and unrestrained experimentation built a terrifyingly vast and seemingly unstoppable force for the Eclipse. Its armies too, reflected the division in status between Mages and baseline men, with the former being favored in leadership and indulged in their worst excesses as long as they produced results.
The Eclipse changed the rules of conventional warfare forever, and their impact can be seen in any modern nation's military doctrine at a glance.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Alternative Names
Kingdom of Sol, the Enemy
Demonym
Solus, Darklings, Betrayers
Government System
Magocracy
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Command/Planned economy
Location
Neighboring Nations
