Third Era

Immortal Freedom > Timeline

The Third Era begins with the beginning of the Sycophant Wars in the year 424 and ends with the beginning of the Nox’zh’r Apocalypse in the year 442.

424

While researching a precursor artifact with a Nox’zh’r crystal inside, Katrina Stefanson unlocks the latent magical power of the crystal in a breakthrough driven by desperation. Within moments, she is taken over by the Nox’zh’r’s influence and uses the crystal’s power to killed everyone aboard the Prometheus. She then raises them as undead cyborgs under her control, creating the Hold.

The Hold invades the moons in orbit around Zascoeth with its army of undead cyborgs called sycophants. It kills countless colonists—most of them Terran—and raises them as more of their own.

The Terran Republic’s response is swift and decisive. However, even with its newly acquired military prowess, the Terran Republic military is unprepared for the Hold’s sudden attack on the Zascoeth planetary system. The Hold is using the Terran Republic military’s own weapons and starships against it. Hold sycophants also work under a single hive-mind, with no room for dissidence, emotion, or individuality. They are, in essence, the perfect soldiers, with no room for error.

The Hold invades Greth and its moon, Osar. Much like in the Zascoeth planetary system, its army of sycophants kill the inhabitants, only to then raise them from the dead to become more sycophants.

As chaos erupts all around Greth with the arrival of the Hold, the Grethians within the Palisade make the difficult decision to permanently seal the Palisade against the Hold’s assault. The domed structured is true to its name, keeping the Hold from breaching into Lurxburg’s city centre. Those outside the Palisade are left to their own devices.

425

Jesse Baasch becomes a member of the Council of Twelve of the Champions of the Divine. He takes Wilhelm Frenz’s place as the director of vindicator training and recruitment on Unaut.

The Hold has fully conquered the Zascoeth and Greth planetary systems, and has begun to launch attacks on Terran Republic installations in the Zoibin Asteroid Belt. It constructs factories and military installations on the smouldering ruins of Terran Republic settlements, in preparation for incursions on the core planets of the Xaia solar system.

The Terran Republic petitions its allies in the Coalition of Planets for help in defending against the unstoppable Hold army as it threatens to attack Duereth and the other inner planets of the Xaia solar system.

The Erelan Empire provides aid in the form of supplies and provisions, to help in war efforts against the Hold.

The T’avian Collective does not respond to the Terran Republic’s calls for aid in their fight against the Hold.

426

The Hold abruptly ends its attacks on Terran Republic worlds in the Xaia solar system, bringing an end to the Sycophant Wars. Hold forces retreat back from Duereth and the Zoibin Asteroid Belt and return to the Zascoeth and Greth planetary systems. Any remaining non-Hold starships and ground forces are eliminated by the Hold. The Hold goes dark.

The Terran Republic has no explanation for the Hold’s sudden change in strategy. Up until Hold forces retreated back to Zascoeth and Greth, their goal appeared to be the complete domination of all Terrans, and the Terran Republic could do little to oppose them.

The Hold know something that the Terrans do not—while the Hold is a formidable force, its power of its sycophants is finite. At some point, the Hold would lose control over its sycophants. In an effort to prevent the inevitable, the Hold had stopped all hostilities in order to focus on defending its existing territory while it researches ways to improve the Hold.

The Hold works to improve the efficiency of its assimilation process. It also works to produce higher quality sycophants. Some work is being done internally, led by sycophants with scientific knowledge who had been afforded a measure of individuality. At the same time, independent of Hold control, Nox’zh’r cultists throughout the star cluster attempt to integrate Nox’zh’r lluw into the Hold’s assimilation process.

The outer planets of the Xaia solar system—the area beyond the Zoibin Asteroid Belt, including the Zascoeth and Greth planetary systems—becomes known as Hold space. For the next decade, most who enter Hold space are lost forever, presumably killed or destroyed by the Hold.

Despite multiple manned and unmanned expeditions into Hold space, the Terran Republic is no closer to finding out what the Hold truly is, where it had come from, or why it suddenly stopped all hostilities. Without the answers they seek, the Terran Republic prepares for the by constructing more weapons, developing new technologies, and worsening their opinions of aliens and cyborgs.

432

Elin’sahra Delsara Dawnbreath names 14-year-old Re’na Silverseeker as her apprentice.

433

Glumee Slickblast uses her influence with local raiders and space pirate to establish the Ravager Trade Cartel and build Mokar.

Glumee Slickblast establishes The Succubus as her own personal nightclub in the heart of the upper levels of the city. The club is constructed from the hull of a derelict cruise starship’s dance hall, spliced together with the launch bay of a small carrier.

436

A group of sycophants breaks apart from the Hold. These newly freed sycophants name themselves the Neoterics, in an attempt to distance themselves from the Hold. They vow to remain free of the Hold while helping to free others from its grip. Almost all Neoterics cleanse themselves on a regular basis to manage their Nox’zh’r infections.

The newly established Neoterics contact the members of the Coalition of Planets to inform them of their newfound freedom, ask for asylum for its members who wanted to repatriate, and to relay what they knew about the Hold. Namely, they relayed the nature of the Hold as an army of undead cyborgs and that the Hold had stopped its hostilities to regroup and develop more effective ways to conquer the Terran Republic. The Neoterics knew little more than that, having lost access to the hive mind collective they had access to as part of the Hold.

Nizi Farhana Ornebel is selected as executive chairman of the Terran Republic. He builds his campaign on the promise that he will deal with the Hold, once and for all.

438

Nox’zh’r cultists on Speon make a breakthrough in the Hold assimilation process, successfully merging Nox’zh’r lluw, Hold nanobots and crystal plasma to create Hold lluw. They sent their discovery to Prometheus—the control centre of the Hold—as well as other Nox’zh’r cultists throughout the star cluster.

Neoteric sycophant diplomats travel to Plumeth, at great personal risk through Hold space. A diplomatic incident forces the Neoteric diplomats to return to Hold space, before negotiations could even begin. Without their only source of information about the Hold, the Terran Republic holds its breath, waiting to see what the Hold would do next.

Independent investigations reveal the existence, as well as the effectiveness, of Hold lluw. The information is relayed to the Terran Republic via its secret service, which conducts its own series of investigations into the Cult of the Nox’zh’r.

439

Information is leaked on the NET regarding corruption among the Champions of the Divine and some Terran Republic government officials. The information claimed indicated that members of the Council of Twelve had been working with certain Terran Republic government officials to flood the streets of Plumeth City with organised crime and weapons. They had also been quietly hiring shadow ops mercenary groups to harass trade routes and compete with space pirates in the star cluster. Ultimately, their goal had been to redirect money and resources to the Dragoon Corps, the Champions of the Divine, and other private security and protection agencies by encouraging illegal activities across Terran Republic space.

The Champions of the Divine are disbanded. All members of the Council of Twelve are dishonourable discharged from service by the Divine Church and the Terran Republic, for their respective commissions. Vindicators who were once part of the Champions of the Divine fall under the jurisdiction of Fellowship of the Divine.

Rogue recondite groups, sycophant splinter cells, and Nox’zh’r cultists are revealed to have been a part of the corruption headed by the Champions of the Divine and Terran Republic government officials. While not directly involved, they had helped to sow chaos and dysfunction, while benefiting from the Terran Republic’s divided attention and lack of resources for dealing with dangerous groups.

440

The Hold uses its new assimilation process, developed by Nox’zh’r cultists, to raise a new generation of sycophants who are smarter, stronger and more independent than their predecessors. It unleashed this new army of sycophants on the Insurgency—the last remaining bastion of Terran resistance in Hold space. The Insurgency is eradicated, proving the strength and skill of the new sycophants.

Flaws in the Hold’s new assimilation process allows some sycophants to break free of the Hold, thanks to the degree of individuality and independence they had been afforded and with some help from Neoteric agents. These newly freed sycophants either attempt to repatriate to their home nations, or join up with the Neoterics operating out of Hold space. They also warn their respective nations and factions of an impending attack from the Hold, once it has fine-tuned its new assimilation process.

Looking to save face in wake of the disillusion of the Champions of the Divine, the Fellowship of the Divine partners with the Terran Republic’s secret service to quietly hire mercenaries to storm a Cult of the Nox’zh’r stronghold on Speon.

Mercenaries destroy an underground Cult of the Nox’zh’r stronghold on Speon. Though the research done there had already benefited the Hold, the defeat of the Nox’zh’r cultists proved that they could be beaten—and by extension, so could the Hold.

441

Wilhelm Frenz learns to reconnect with the Divine and regains access to his Divine magic. He returns to Plumeth, ending his self-imposed exile.

Wilhelm Frenz reforms the Champions of the Divine with the Divine Church’s blessing. He is appointed as the sole leader and vows to put an end to the Hold by any means necessary. He sends out an open call for mercenaries, bounty hunters, raiders and other outlaws to join the Champions of the Divine and the Terran Republic on an all out assault on the Hold. Prospective mercenaries and outlaws are to prove themselves worthy to fight alongside the Champions of the Divine and the Terran Republic in a grand tournament hosted by the Blackwater Trade Cartel on Yriptel.

The Champions of the Divine, led by Wilhelm Frenz, launch an all-out assault on the Hold, entrenched in the Zascoeth and Greth planetary systems. With the help of the Terran Republic military, as well as the mercenaries and outlaws they had recruited, the Champions of the Divine win many victories over the Hold. They reclaim most of the worlds conquered by the undead cyborgs.

The Palisade on Greth is breached. After years of neglect and constant siege by the Hold, a portion of the domed structure collapses, forcibly thrusting the Grethians inside back into the world they had escaped so long ago. Most were happy to rejoin the Terran Republic and leave Greth amidst the Champions of the Divine’s crusade against the Hold. The Sycophant Wars, the Grethian Civil War, and an outbreak of Rhretnysa’vh had taken their toll on the people of Lurxburg, and they want nothing to do with their broken home.

With the Palisade breached, and its residents scattered, the Grethian Civil War is effectively over.

The Champions of the Divine receive intel that a great number of Hold starships have amassed in the empty space, near Zascoeth. Wilhelm Frenz leads an armada of starships to the location, only to be ambushed by Hold forces. The Champions of the Divine fleet is decimated and Wilhelm is killed in action.

The remaining mercenary groups, in concert with the Terran Republic, engage in one last battle against the Hold’s armada. The Prometheus joins the fight midway, and mercenaries storm the space station to kill Katrina Stefanson, putting an end to the Hold.

The Hold fractures in the wake of its defeat. Many of the Hold’s sycophants attempt to repatriate, now free of the Hold’s control. Others choose to join the Neoterics, afraid they won’t be welcome back home or wanting a fresh start. A few join Hold splinter groups formed under the Katrina Stefanson’s most trusted sycophants, driven by a mixture of loyalty and residual obedience. Nox’zh’r cultists directly working with the Hold scatter, disappearing without a trace.

The Zascoeth and Greth planetary systems teem with Hold sycophants clinging to old loyalties. However, fractured as they were, the Terran Republic is steadily freeing more and more of its colonies from Hold sycophants every day.

Nizi Farhana Ornebel is re-elected to the position of executive chairman for a second term. His popularity is at an all-time high with the defeat of the Hold and the reclamation of Terran Republic colonies.

A number of prisoner of war camps on Duereth are attacked by outlaws. The camps are destroyed, and the prisoners are set free. The outlaws and the Megor prisoners hedl there disappear shortly after, their whereabouts unknown.

442

Victory over the Hold is celebrated throughout the Terran Republic. More and more sycophants are being freed every day, with many attempting to repatriate to their home nations—though some decide to join up with the Neoterics instead. The dead are mourned, and the survivors move on, satisfied that the Hold is no more.