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| Eventually, the Pythro-Bardeezan invasion escalated into the [[Spawn War]]. | | Eventually, the Pythro-Bardeezan invasion escalated into the [[Spawn War]]. |
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| ==Pythro-Byzallian War==
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| The pretext for the war had its origins in border disputes between the [[Byzatium|Byzallian]] Government and their neighbours the [[Bardeezan|Bardeezans]] in the Vectis System. For years the Byzallians had been taking many Bardeezans as ‘Hotch’ (slave) labour. In time, the hard pressed Bardeezans turned to their powerful allies the [[Pythron|Pythrons]] for support.
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| The Pythrons sent an Army of Observation to Bardeez to bolster the planets defences. An ultimatum was also sent to Byzatium, hoping to give them one final warning to stop ravaging the Bardeez population. When the Byzallian Government professed no knowledge of their slave trade, the Pythrons were unimpressed.
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| In 2388, the Pythron President J’Eyga ordered his Army of Observation to go on the offensive, and become an Army of Execution and invade Byzatium itself under the command of Marshal Karinus LeNoir.
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| [[File:LeNoir.jpg|left|200px]]
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| LeNoir (pictured left), assisted by Grand Admiral Tagora, initially planned a five-pronged invasion of Byzatium, composed of over one million troops in five task forces and designed to encircle the Byzallian cities, and their one field army and force it to fight his overwhelming might. In the event, LeNoir settled on three invading forces with the main command, now consisting of several hundred thousand Pythrons and Bardeezans under his direct command. He moved his forces from their unopposed landing zones south of the most powerful Byzallian state: Roscland. He set up a tactical head quarters at Sunbury. The three task forces were to invade across the Byzallian continent - their objective being Pride City - the Roscland capital.
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| While Byzallian army numbered perhaps 350,000 men, it was essentially a militia force which could be called out in time of national danger. As more and more Byzallians were killed or captured, they were increasingly having to rely upon their ‘Hotch’ slaves or on those considered too young, too old or too ill for normal military service to plug the gaps in their ranks. As the war progressed, an eclectic mix of species are drafted to fight. Orders can sometimes need to be given in over twenty languages.
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| The initial entry of all three task forces was largely unopposed; such was the incredilation and internal squabbling of the various Byzallian city-states. The main Pythron army under LeNoir advanced from Sunbury, and then encamped near Vadum Sanctum. That day LeNoir decided to split his forces and moved out to support a reconnoitering party, leaving the camp in charge of Praetorian Vaingore Hoff. Meanwhile, the Byzallians had finally brought together their main force under the Byzallian military leader – Thazdiuz Telent. The Pythrons were then outmanoeuvred by the main Byzallian army nearly 200,000 strong led by Telent. LeNoir was lured eastward with much of his task force by a Byzallian diversionary force while the main army attacked his base at Vadum Sanctum. The Pythrons at Vadum Sanctum were overwhelmed, the base annihilated with heavy casualties as well as the loss of all its supplies, ammunition and transport. The defeat left LeNoir no choice but to hastily retreat back to his main base at Sunbury. In the battle's aftermath, some 40,000 Byzallian reserves mounted an unauthorised raid on Sunbury but were driven off after ten hours of ferocious fighting. While the Pythron main force under LeNoir's command severely damaged, the other two Pythro-Bardeezan forces remained with their transports to await events..
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| LeNoir ordered the Bardeezan under their commander Gobowen Fair to attack the Byzallian stronghold in Holdbane. Gobowen personally led the attack on Holdbane. However, the main Byzallian army approached to help their besieged colleagues in Holdbane, the Bardeezan force began a retreat which turned into a rout and were pursued by the Byzallian gunships, inflicting heavy casualties on the Bardeezan force.
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| The next day 200,000 Byzallian troops with armoured support attacked Gobowen's remaining Bardeezan troops in a well-fortified bastion at Chetz Sea. The ragged Bardeezans held them off, and after five hours of heavy attacks the Byzallians withdrew. While Gobowen and his Bardeezans were thus engaged, LeNoir’s main force had been resupplied from Pythro, and was was storming its way from Sunbury back towards Vadum Sanctum to retake the ground it had lost and so clear their path to Pride City! [[File:telent.jpg|right|300px]]
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| The new start of the larger, heavily reinforced second invasion was not promising for the Pythro-Bardeezan Alliance. Despite their success at Chetz Sea, they were right back where they had started from. The de facto Byzallian leader – Telent, knowing that the newly reinforced Pythrons would be a formidable opponent, attempted to negotiate a peace treaty. LeNoir was not open to negotiations, as he wished to restore his reputation in the eyes of his Masters on Pythro. He thus proceeded towards Pride City, intending to defeat the main Byzallian army. Telent was forced to bring his army back to his capital, and the biggest battle of the war began. Casualties, both military and civilian, were heavy. Perhaps a million souls perished in the bloodbath. In the end, the sheer might of the giant Pythron warriors carried the day. Telent’s Byzallian forces were defeated decisively.
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| After the battle of Pride City, the remnants of the Byzallian army dispersed, most of the leading officers tendered their submission, and Telent (pictured right) became a fugitive. LeNoir set about reducing Pride City to rubble, and searching for the last Byzallian leader.
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| Pulling the strings behind the scenes was the megalomanic [[Beaufytor, Gregg#Lieutenant_Victor_Handley-Page;_Viscount_of_Romont|Mons Vor]] – a powerful Byzallian engineer and technocrat who had wooed the Pythron High Command to attack his own homeworld. It never once seemed that Mons Vor would show any restraint as his own people were being obliterated. The Warped Mind of this Master Engineer had only one objective, the capturing of the Byzallian tribe – the Omunics and their genetic technologies. Once he had both the organic and in-organic dark arts under his control, the whole galaxy would quake! What the short-term tactical considerations of his Pythron underlings were, he cared not.
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| ==Federation Intelligence Files== | | ==Federation Intelligence Files== |