Perseity Chronicles
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Poster:	plexresearch
Date:	05-02-10 23:18
Subject:	Torus War - encyclopedia entry

Excerpt from Encyclopedia Perseitica, 2nd edition, 2588

Torus War
A conflict lasting in broad outline from 2551 to 2553, and centering around the development of the multi-torus era and the political jostling related to this circumstance. The initial triggering event of the war is generally held to be the discovery in October 2551 of the planet Dahome in Third Sphere by Dr. Kenge Ramat, as part of the research funded by the Cosmic Atlas Project, a charitable organization dedicated to the search for habitable planets other than those of Earthside and Sphereside. This was followed very shortly thereafter by a terror attack at the Loco Citato café on October 20 that killed, among others, Calcifer Hebblethwaite, co-founder of the CAP. (This attack is now generally held to have been the work of Anastasi Szabo, a CAP insider, as part of an effort to gain power within the organization). The attack led to the passing of the Sphereside Protection Act by the European Parliament on November 7, which led to the creation of the Comitatus as (it was then believed) a temporary measure to prevent terrorism and protect Perseity.

In February 2552, the Nova Carpathian government announced the completion of a previously-secret project to build an experimental torus (now the Brana auxiliary torus) to the newly discovered Sphere. At around the same time, or shortly earlier, the Austronesian government on Earth began a secret project to launch a full-sized torus to the new sphere in an effort to pre-empt European or Carpathian efforts to colonize the new planet. While many Perseites welcomed the new colonization efforts, other groups, including Stormfront, led by future President Storm Mabrey and his wife (then girlfriend) Aysta Broken-in-Two, opposed and protested the militarization that would inevitably follow from such activity. Furthermore, on March 14, 2552, an event sponsored by future Senator Lerah Qonoli in support of the CAP led to tragedy as Rose Weddel, one of the colony's eight elected councillors and a strong supporter of the CAP, was subjected to a neurotoxin attack that left her socially disabled and unable to function in society. This attack is now believed to have been orchestrated by the Austronesian government in an effort to weaken the resolve of those supporting the CAP and the Carpathian project. Nevertheless, the new torus was activated and the First Brana Mission launched in May 2552.

Concern over the potential ethical consequences of the colonization of new worlds brought new light to the concerns of the Auia on Perseity and throughout Second Sphere. Led in part by future Tarka Medal winner Dr. Hendrick Avercamp and his future wife, Talia Wade, efforts were made throughout 2552 to highlight the particular difficulties of interspecies relations. The discovery of an Auia cannibalism ring by Dr. Avercamp's student Emily Lister in August 2552 prompted public outcry and concern over the treatment of Auia in New Whyalla and elsewhere on Akkad. While Third Sphere exploration located only the remains of the Xarritl species and its ruined civilizations, this new focus on interspecies issues would become extremely relevant after the conclusion of the war with the discovery of the T-bodies by Dr. Horst Eberwein (another Tarka medal winner) and the culture of the Indwellers.

July 8, 2552 is a date well-known to all as the beginning of the Sunder, as the AT2 torus was destroyed by Sepalika Ranatunga, a member of the now-defunct Murtuma terror organization working in collaboration with Austronesian officials. By this time, the Austronesian government had completed their new torus pair (the Airlangga moebiotorus) but had concluded that Europe and the Sphereside nations were so apathetic to the notion of Third Sphere colonization that their effort was better directed towards the establishment of their own link to Second Sphere and the destruction of AT2. The Sunder brought attention and great scrutiny to Ambassador Hermenegildus Frankenbauer, an elderly lifelong politician who acquired the powers of the European President once the link to Europe was severed. Ambassador Frankenbauer, while often regarded as a stodgy supporter of the European status quo, was in fact responsible for much diplomatic negotiation with Sphereside nations during the Sunder period which led eventually to Perseity's present governmental structure.

On September 19, Anastasi Szabo, who had by this time become the chief lieutenant and advisor to Joan Strode-Hebblethwaite, leader of the CAP, was assassinated during an interview with reporter Vincenzo Datini. Although Mr. Datini was at first charged with the crime, he was later exonerated, and no one has ever been brought to justice for the murder. Several bizarre theories of the crime, which was made into the popular vid By No Man's Hand, remain popular, including that Joan Strode-Hebblethwaite committed the murder as vengeance for her husband's death, that Szabo committed suicide due to guilty sentiments, and (less plausibly) that AEGIS Director Quaquin Elmore became deranged and had Szabo killed (a claim apparently made by Datini at one point, and potentially substantiated by Elmore's suicide the next month). Many scholars hold that Szabo was assassinated by Austronesian agents working in preparation for the invasion of Perseity that would follow shortly thereafter.

On October 1, the Airlangga moebiotorus was launched Earthside, and on October 14 the torus was opened near Perseity, and a fleet of Austronesian warships surrounded Perseity and forced Ambassador Frankenbauer and Governor Philomene Tagliava to cede control. Octovina Dua-Kekayaan was installed as governor of the puppet state, which was ideologized as a province-in-waiting of the Austronesian confederated republic. Once Europe learned of the invasion, it formally declared war on Austronesia, commencing the 'hot' phase of the Torus War. While initially seemingly benign, rapid changes to the political and legal system were quickly enacted by the Austronesian regime. By November, a set of active resistance movements had formed on Perseity, most notably that led by Lerah Qonoli and her lover, the poet-scholar Jero Gede Macgregor. These movements became militant after December 10, when a peaceful demonstration of Tengrists at the Austronesian justice department on Perseity was brutally suppressed and its leaders killed, arrested, or dispersed.

On January 13, 2553, Joan Strode-Hebblethwaite was arrested by Austronesian authorities on charges of weapons possession related to resistance activities; Strode-Hebblethwaite herself has kept her silence on this matter, but it is generally believed that the CAP was actively involved in anti-Austronesian activity at the time. Three days later, a major attack was launched by a resistance group led by the Fatalist prophet, Gadaquali, which led to severe damage to the Endoport and destroyed much of the Austronesian fleet. It is now generally acknowledged that the Comitatus was partly responsible for arming and coordinating with this group. On January 23, a European torus finally reappeared in Perseity's vicinity, and a fleet of European warships emerged and demanded that Austronesia concede control. When these efforts failed, Europe, in conjunction with Carpathian, Galatsadi and Linnaean allies, launched an attack on the remnants of the Austronesian fleet and re-occupied the colony.

While Austronesian reinforcements were deployed, these efforts were stymied when the senior staff of their warships all acquired Torogenic Identity Disorder (which is now understood as the result of the process by which T-bodies and N-bodies are separated, or discerped). While inexplicable at the time, it has now been established that Dr. Horst Eberwein and his colleague Apo Rising were in communication with the Indwellers, who then engaged the Austronesians and discerped them. While most of those affected were later permitted to be rejoined, this marked the first use of the discerpment process for tactical ends, raising many ethical and strategic issues which persist to the present.

By February 5, 2553, Perseity was back in European hands. The conclusion of the major fighting occurred on that day when patriot-pornographer Vigo Qvist launched an attack on the last remaining Austronesian outpost. Among those slain in the last stage of this conflict was Ambassador Frankenbauer, who died during a last-ditch effort by the Austronesians to hold political figures hostage in order to secure their freedom.

While the Torus War was relatively brief and resulted in limited loss of life, its consequences for Perseity and beyond were immense. Among the more important are:
- The discovery of Third Sphere and the extinct civilizations of Dahome, and the beginning of the colonization of the new Sphere.
- The replacement of European hegemony over torus travel by a multi-national, multi-torus policy that prevents any state from exercising sole control over the links between Spheres.
- The dissolution of the office of unelected governor of Perseity and the introduction of a republican government with an elected president, eight elected Perseite senators, and two senators appointed by each of Europe, America, Nova Carpathia, and Galatsadi, the nations responsible for the defense of the colony and the maintenance of the local torii.
- The introduction of the Comitatus, and its subsequent replacement of AEGIS as the intelligence agency of Perseity.
- The commencement of communication with the Indwellers, a thorough understanding of the nature of TID and the discerpment process, and the subsequent recognition of Indwellers as a sentient non-human species with quasi-territorial rights over t-space.

reply by fib


Poster:	othernpc
Date:	05-02-10 12:06
Subject:	Fib to Margot from Herbertus Woolsey

( Meeting )

2 comments | reply by fib


Poster:	eberwein
Date:	05-02-10 11:52
Subject:	Fib to Apo

( Opening )

TNS reporter brutally slain

FREEDOM!

New torus arrives