The Apocalypse

The Apocalypse is a timeframe of total communications blackout and isolation in the aftermath of The Greater Crusade. The Coalition was considered to be in a "state of emergency" after The Greater Crusade had destroyed the majority of coalition military voidships and turning the Valderi homeworld of Keitan into ruin along with the central communications system that binds every sector together. Repairing this system would prove to be impossible as the entire facility, including the blueprints and experts have all been destroyed. This would leave countless sectors and worlds in complete darkness, left to fend for themselves. This period of galactic instability would be known as "The Apocalypse".

In a meeting of all Coalition high ranking personnel, remaining coalition commanders refused to send out their remaining ships to quickly reconnect with "lost worlds" due to fears of Heretic Forces still being an active threat. This was true in certain areas, especially in sectors in and close to Keitan.

During the communications blackout and isolation, most worlds were left to fend and manage themselves. While some worlds remained mostly peaceful and continued operations and small scale expansion due to their complete self-sustainable practices and systems, others that didn't quickly fell into chaos. This would lead to each world quickly falling into disarray as vital resources soon dried up leading to self-contained conflicts. Many of these conflicts would see either social class uprisings or singular city states forming into their own sovereign territory against warlords, tyrannical overseers or various paramilitary forces.

This process of rapid social decay throughout civilized space would soon be dealt with by the Coalition. However, this undertaking did not really begin until the 2nd Coalition Charter was signed with New Avalon becoming the official coalition headquarters and the Coalition Armament Program "Fastner" was considered completed. Although smaller operations took place from 2054 - 2064 to establish basic supply lines for vital resources required for expansion and evacuation routes for the Valderi survivors out of Keitan, major operations such as Operation Forward Sun only began taking place in 2065.

However, all operations were paused once the Broken King, a heretic forces void emergent entity, resurfaced in real space towing a moon-sized crimson crystal. Information on what the Broken King exactly was remains unknown, however his allegiance was made very clear when coalition ships sent to shadow his fleet spotted heretic Clan voidships escorting them.

The Coalition would rapidly write up and set Operation Broken Arrow into action in 2098. This incident would not mark a Coalition victory as in the final moments of the battle, the crystal was shattered and the crimson within erupted. It was impossible to ascertain how far the crimson had spread within the first moments, but the initial eruption has been estimated to infect around a thousand planets. This new spreading of crimson in impossible amounts would drive the battered coalition fleets out of the area of operations to prepare for the disaster that has just occurred.

The disastrous failure of Operation Broken Arrow would lead the galaxy into a new period of chaos. With the Coalition now scrambling not only to establish contact with remaining isolated worlds but also the crimson that is spreading throughout the galaxy, contaminating any world it comes in contact with. This new front and enemy would be called the Red plague.