Pax Caeli

There was a war.   It was far from the first war the galaxy had ever seen, though many hope it will be the last. The Burning Heavens War raged for over two thousand years across hundreds of worlds and stars themselves became numbered among its victims.   The Cosmic Empire would know no retreat; the anarchic, rabble across their borders had gone too far. The shining world of Cosmos directed the action from their tall towers of ivory and crystal, playing their interstellar games with pieces that represented thousands of lives. The kings and queens of Cadleigh, aided by their wizards and viziers, contributed varied resources but none more potent than the magic they and the indigenous of their world had come to master. The Dominar of Rhiados, ruler and undisputed God of that planet, allowed his beloved faithful to throw their bodies and souls into the war in the tens of thousands in order to ensure that his rightness, and his righteousness, could never be questioned. The Noble Houses of the world of Triumph committed their forces as well, but unlike other worlds they sent only a few: the Augmented, the colorful warriors and defenders of their planet with vast powers to set each one on a footing with an entire battalion. The world of IV refused to risk their artificially intelligent machine inhabitants, each so precious and rare to them, but provided starships of exquisite design and weapons of deadly potency. And Anima, poor Anima, a colony world risen above its station due to earth-shattering local discoveries, bore the heaviest cost of the war between the Cosmic Empire and the Eternal Union.   The Eternal Union, adamant they would give no ground to their militant and arrogant older cousins, matched the Empire in ferocity. Recarro, first world of the Union and trading hub of the galaxy, became a wartime supply chain without peer. Harper's World, though practically devoid of resources, possessed soldiers in great number and the technology to produce many, many more. Sekalia too, though fractious and divided among the priests and warlords who rule there, contributed warriors whose viciousness and cunning made them legends throughout the galaxy. The space station colonies of the Minaret system, whose dashing corsairs left broken ships and broken hearts in their wake as they sailed the infinite seas, had ships aplenty to defend the Union's freedom. The water world of Setera and its amphibious inhabitants answered their allies' call, though their hesitation to do so cost them dearly. The Witch-Queens of the planet Salithe, arrogant in their own way and determined never to fall under an Imperial trooper's boot, brought their own magic to bear against Imperial forces and sent their mighty Warriors besides.   In the end, though, it was the shadowy entities that ruled Ursa Myrmidon which would decide the outcome of the war...and the fate of the galaxy.   The Burning Heavens War has ended and a treaty was signed: the Pax Caeli, Peace in the Heavens. The Cosmic Emperor declared it the beginning of a bright future in which none need fear the fires of war in space any longer. The speakers of the Union agreed, saying that freedom would reign across the skies once more.   If you know nothing else of this galaxy, of its past and of its future, you must know this: There was a war.