Sinus Nuclear War
The great Sinus nuclear war was a mass extinction event that wiped out almost all life on Sinus, as a result of the widespread use of nuclear weapons of ancient Trevan society.
Before the war, there were several trevan nations and alliances, all under deep conflict. Every side wanted to wipe all the others off the map due to a long, bloody history of prior war and extremely poor diplomatic relations. The event that finally ignited the nuclear war was when one of these nations manged to launch assaults into the homeland of another. The other nation thus fired their nuclear weapons first because that nation probably would collapse regardless. Other nations then responded by firing nuclear weapons at other nations, and the war quickly escalated to the point where every nuclear weapon on the planet was fired. In mere hours, the entire planet was irradiated and devastated with more than half of the Trevan population being killed immediately and the world being plunged into a post-apocalyptic hellscape.
For thousands of years, most of the trevan population became slaves just so that trevan civilization survives, with little room for comfort. The trevans as a species obtained a resistance to radiation as any individuals that were less radiation resistant died off far more easily, causing evolution. They sometimes had to fight immense mutated creatures with bullets, some of which have grown an exoskeleton so thick that it could deflect most bullets in common use, forcing them to use anti-tank weapons sometimes. Obtaining the raw resources to sustain such a society was very difficult; this usually meant leaving the nuclear shelters to experience the outside world. They often recycled the many wreckages often located outside, but in the event these weren't present or they depleted, it forced them to use mines. Almost everyone who worked in a mine died from either combat, radiation sickness from being exposed to the open or workplace incidents.
After the nuclear winter subsided somewhat, the skies cleared slightly and the radiation content was reduced. The trevans became powerful enough to expand finally, and have reached a scale large enough to easily obtain resources. By this point all the wreckages worth salvaging were salvaged, so they returned to mining which has been made far more safe. Thousands of years after the nuclear war, the Trevans eventually returned to space, although now in a form very different from their original appearance. The radiation has caused some mutations in the trevan species along with their radiation resistance.
The nuclear war also gives the Hyperion Ethics Committee more evidence of its importance. It was established to prevent Hyperion Federation civil wars, which could drastically escalate when larger and larger weapons are deployed and eventually result in another, similar war where the entire HF destroys itself, which is reminiscent of the Rih'kiel calamity. Culturally, it is well known that the nuclear war has destroyed many trevan historical archives and little is known about their history before the war. They have built monuments in honor of their sacrifice, and because they have been completely forgotten, the names of these individuals lost to history.
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