The Seven Systems have experienced conflict for as long as it's possible to remember – and, in all likelihood, they they fought wars before then too. Conflicts large and small, brief and drawn-out have occurred throughout all of recorded history, from the Selasi War of Independence to the Second Achelian-Kybele Trade War (which purportedly only lasted for two hours and thirty-seven minutes before Kybele surrendered).

However, none of them compare with the war that broke out following the Ananke explosion. The death toll from direct conflict is estimated to be in the order of hundreds of millions. Deaths from starvation, disease and internal crackdowns take that number up to the billions, though it is difficult to get an accurate measure due to the destruction of most infrastructure.

Theoretically still ongoing, this conflict has loomed so large in people's consciousnesses that it is known simply as this: The War.

For the twenty years leading up to the War, the Seven Systems had enjoyed an uneasy peace. A delicate set of treaties and trade routes kept the balance of power from tipping too far in any one direction, but only just. Recent conflicts, nationalistic pride and jealousy over resources have meant that a conflict has never been too far from breaking out onto the surface.

Following the revelation of Selas's new bioweapon and the attempted assassination of their princess onboard the Ananke conference, Eunomia chose to attack their longtime rivals, Selas. The attack was swift, brutal and effective. Kedalion were also gearing up for war with a rapid place, and it looked for a short time as though an Achelian-Kedalion-Eunomian alliance would be unstoppable, before a friendly fire incident led to Kedalion and Achelia turning on each other.

Key events from this period of the War include:

• 1262.045 The Kedalian organising committee announce the adoption of a new corporate strategy and set of optimisation processes. Other systems note that this strategy appears to be particularly geared towards military movements.
  • From this point onwards members of the Organising Committee are subject to high security, and not seen in public except via video comms.
  • At the same time, Kedalion announce that they are officially entering into an alliance with Eunomia and Achelia.
• 1262.205 Eunomia lead an initial overt strike against Selas. They appear to know the Selasi defence policy inside out already, and are able to effectively take most of them out. They move on to targeting civilians with astonishing speed, drawing outrage from the interplanetary community.
  • Many Selasi citizens flee, seeking refuge on their allied planets of Briareos and Kybele.
• 1263.012 Briareos breaks out in revolution, lead by a young woman, Maribelle Johns, who seeks to throw off the oppressive regime of the gerontocrats. This revolution, and the counter-revolution that follows it, effectively prevent Briareos from getting involved in the War proper for a while.
• 1263.286 Achelia attack Kedalion out of the blue. Although some Achelian officials deny this, Kedalion takes this as a declaration of war and retaliate with the full might of Eunomia at their back. Achelia are well equipped and fight back incredibly fiercely.

The second stage of the war is generally agreed to have started with the invasion of Cheimeros. Kedalion found themselves at a disadvantage against Achelia’s abundance of resources and skilled pilots, and looked to Cheimeros to equip themselves. This stage of the war was a hard slog for all sides, coming to a climax with an Achelian-Kybele-Briareon strike on Kedalion and the pioneering use of new tools by Eunomia that reduced the Selasi home planet to dust.

• 1265.043 Kedalion invade Cheimeros with the intent to annexe them. The fight is long and drawn out due to Kedalion fighting on two different fronts, despite their uncanny awareness of, apparently, all Cheimeran strategy. Kedalion shamelessly target civilians from the get-go.
• 1267.124 Eunomia take over a GSP-run station, the Prometheus, declaring that the GSP have outlived their purpose and demanding that the scientists swear allegiance to Eunomia. Those who refuse are shot.
  • GSP officials on other planets either officially forswear their allegiances or flee to spaceships. Space stations are deemed to be unsafe.
• 1268.47-81 The Briareon Civil War officially ends when Tyrant Johns executes the leaders of the last band of rebels and conducts a purge, notably targeting the descendents of Oscar Letts.
• 1268.102 Eunomia demands that Briareos hand over the Selasi scientists they have been harbouring. Johns refuses, stating that the Briareons will not bow to other oppressors so soon after they removed the last - not least because the scientific expertise brought by the Selasi has worked to greatly improve foodless and gasbag technology. Eunomia responds by bombing all major population centres on Briareos, drawing them directly into the conflict.
• 1268.114 Eunomia make a similar demand on Kybele who, similarly, refuse. Eunomia invade directly. A Kybele-Selasi coalition of scientists and spies commandeer a Eunomian ship and fly it back to Eunomia, where they release fungal spores into the Eunomian atmosphere. These spores quickly grow into a plague which takes over all arable land.
• 1273.236 Cheimeros is recorded as officially surrendering, though it isn’t clear whether the planet had any leadership left to actually surrender. The remaining population are crowded into underground settlements as the surface is covered in factories, and millions die of disease, overwork and overcrowding.
• 1274.371 An Achelian-Kybele-Briareon collaboration carry out a series of successful strikes against Kedalian weapons factories, reducing their offensive capacity drastically.
  • Kedalion immediately repurposes a number of its factory farms into weapons factories. Millions die of starvation.
• 1276.074 Eunomia do a test run of their latest innovation, repurposed mining technology with the ability to destroy a planet. They turn Selas into dust.

As Kedalion and Eunomia effectively won, the war itself started to peter out, though some planets continued fighting. Briareos surrendered but groups of Briareons continued to cause problems for the new regime, with a similar situation on Cheimeros.

• 1276.166 Briareos surrenders. It becomes clear very quickly that the terms of this surrender involve covering the planet in factory farms with little care for the cost in human life. Tyrant Johns accepts these terms in exchange for a comfortable position as a Kedalion executor on Briareos. Official reports read that this concession was deemed enough to keep her and the system in line.
• 1276.351 Achelia refuses to surrender. Eunomia, having refined their technique, destroy Achelia in the same way they destroyed Selas.
• 1277.175 A brief rebellion breaks out on Kedalion, but is immediately put down. Members of the groups involved – notably the Menagerie gang and the Galactics, a GSP-affiliated group, are all put to death.
• 1282.349 Despite the capitulation of, effectively, all other systems, Kybele continues to fight, if erratically. Eunomia issues a proclamation that it will destroy Kybele if they do not surrender in 30 days.

The Seven Systems are in disarray, their population down to a fraction of what it once was and their landmasses largely covered in factories or rendered unusable. For the specific state of each system, please see the relevant system page.