Commonwealth Wars

Previous:	Edenite Wars of Religion
Concurrent:	War of the Caliphate
Next:	Second Edenite Rebellion
Commonwealth Wars
Date:	February 8th 3460 to May 21st 3579 (119 years, 4 months, 1 week, and 6 days)
Notable battles:	Commonwealth Invasion of Mars First Battle of Zhu Que First Battle of Tranquility Battle of Qaf Luna Raids Second Battle of Zhu Que Bellona Uprising Second Battle of Tranquility
Location:	Solar System, 55 Cancri, 82 G. Eridani, Alpha Centauri, Barnard's Star, Cervantes, Gliese 832, Gliese 1061, LHS 1723, Luyten, Procyon, Ross 128, Teegarden's Star, Trappist, and Wolf 1061
Outcome:	Europa Treaty Earth-Zhu Que Peace Treaty Earth-Qaf Peace Treaty Territorial expansion by the Commonwealth of Earth Pyrrhic military victory Military occupation of various planetoids and exosolar systems by the Commonwealth of Earth Eventual discarding of the Commonwealth's plans for Neuordnung Solar
Belligerents Commonwealth and clients Earth Jupiter Saturn Nova Anti-Commonwealth Mars Zhu Que Tranquility Qaf Eden Proxima Centauri b Belter pirates/terrorists Ross 128 b Barnard's Star b Proudhon Zilong 82 Fleet Casualties Military dead: Over 50,000,000 Civilian dead: Under 20,000,000 Total dead: Over 70,000,000 Military dead: Over 200,000,000 Civilian dead:Over 1,000,000,000 Total dead: Over 1,200,000,000
[Source]

“	If you win, you need not have to explain... If you lose, you should not be there to explain!	”
–Adolf Hitler

The Commonwealth Wars were a series of offensive campaigns fought by the Commonwealth of Earth to subdue known space under its authority, often classed together later as a single long war. The campaigns, fought in the Solar System and across interstellar space, were largely successful but ultimately failed to unite all of humanity under the Commonwealth. This and later events would set the stage for the later Great Interstellar War.

Chronology

See also: Timeline of Commonwealth Wars

The start of the wars in the Solar System is generally held to be 8 February 3460, beginning with the Commonwealth's declaration of war on Mars and the subsequent Commonwealth Invasion of Mars; Mars issuing a declaration of war in the immediate aftermath. The dates for the beginning of war outside of the Solar System vary; with the first shots of the Battle of Ross 128 b fired on 4 May 3471; the Vermillion War beginning on 21 July 3472, the Battle of Proudhon beginning on 8 December 3477, the First Tranquil War breaking out on 14 August 3481, the Battle of Eden beginning on 2 February 3481, Luyten's War beginning on 13 October 3500, the Trappist War erupting on 1 April 3500, the Second Tranquil War, breaking out 8 September 3524, and the 82 G. Eridani War breaking out on 6 March 3566.

The date of the wars' end is generally agreed to be Earth-Qaf Peace Treaty in 3579, signed between the Commonwealth of Earth and Qaf that ended the Trappist War. However, peace had already largely been achieved in the Solar System by 3490 and throughout the rest of governed space by 3566, with the Trappist War only continuing in name due to the difficulty conducting diplomacy over forty light years.

Background

Solar System

The situation within the Solar System preceding the Commonwealth Wars was one growing increasingly unstable. The Interstellar Governing Space Authority grew significantly divided in the preceding centuries as humanity's various colonies expanded while Earth progressively lost its importance. This and the further separation of wider humanity by distance and culture led to a great deal of animosity developing between the powers of the Solar System. The most prominent rising powers would be Mars and Saturn, who both began to assert themselves as more dominant powers within the IGSA. This along with other factors threatened many Earthers and made them anxious about their own position in this new world. Earth began to just be seen as a polluted industrial wasteland, only a source of old technology and immigration.

The Climate Crisis on Earth only exacerbated the situation. Conditions on Earth worsened dramatically after 3000 with many migrants leaving for other parts of Solar System or the stars beyond. This and the declining state of Earth led increased anxiety in the Solar System as Earthers became increasingly resentful of their position within the IGSA and the larger interstellar community. Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn rose in power as Earth stagnated.

Pre-war events

IGSA Decay (3210-3452)

The IGSA had already been losing its grip over humanity's various colonies by the end of the thirty second century, but the Climate Crisis caused a whole new set of problems for the organisation. The IGSA was forced to divert all attention and responsibility towards the cradle of humanity, and as a result, both older Zhu Que and foundling Tranquility formally seceded from the IGSA in short order. The IGSA was unable to do anything to stop this, and it focused primarily on saving Earth and keeping the Solar System in its fold while inviting both new states back into the organisation as equal partners as Celestial States. Nevertheless, the creation of first the Zhu Que Directorate and then the State of Tranquility would lead to irreparable damage to the IGSA's reputation. Meanwhile on Earth, the IGSA's efforts to save the planet were met with little approval among the Earther population, especially in regards to its policy regarding the "undocumented", those without arcology citizenship, with their attempts to herd them into various arcologies. This and other unpopular IGSA policies led to lasting resentment between Earth and the IGSA that would only increase over the years.

Neuordnung Solar (3452-3460)

The idea of of a Neuordnung Solar or a New Solar Order under the leadership of a rejuvenated Earth predated the creation of the Commonwealth of Earth by years. Urban intellectuals on Earth had used ideas similar to Neuordnung Solar for the past couple centuries, but the philosopher Ionnes Cantor would be the first one to fully articulate the idea.

A philosopher, social critic, and political activist from Pillar of Hope arcology, Cantor has been involved with various anti-IGSA anti-capitalist movements on Earth in the early 3400s, getting him in trouble with authorities many times. An intellectual in the tradition of European Romantic nationalism, Cantor began to articulate his philosophy clearly after the secession of Zhu Que and Tranquility. He resented the uneven authority of the IGSA and their inefficient, incompetent rule over Earth. His most recognised book, Spirit of Heaven, was originally published under a pen name and contained the first use of the word Neuordnung Solar. Firstly in the book, Cantor talked extensively about the inability of the IGSA in dealing with the Climate Crisis and their general lack of care for Earth. After that, Cantor moved on to talking about the success of human settlement in the Solar System and continued lack of benefit for Earth. The book went on to outline the reasons both qualitative and quantitative why Earth deserved to be "the Crown of Humanity", drawing influences from the historical Polish belief that Poland was the Messiah of Nations and the Chinese belief in the Mandate of Heaven. Cantor would end the book by introducing the term Neuordnung Solar, a sort of Earth chauvinism whereupon humanity's origin was its natural ruler.

Cantor and other Earth chauvinist intellectuals would increasingly influence Earther politics as the residents of the arcologies became distrustful of the IGSA and their disregard for the majority of Earthers. This led to the rise of of various Earth chauvinist governments in the arcologies beginning in the 3430s, beginning in Shengli. The trend continueed unabated for the next twenty years until people across known space began noticing. Times were changing, and power dynamics were about to change as well.

Independence for Earth (3453)

With minor rebuilding having occurred since the birth of the first arcologies and the demolition of Liberty Central together with the transfer of its population into New Manhattan dulling the capacity for North America to exert its power, the military regimes of Shengli and Pillar of Hope struck an alliance in 3453 to wrestle control of Earth from the hands of IGSA. Although Shengli was an Earth chauvinist government, Pillar of Hope was not, but it was willing to work with Shengli to wrest control from North America and its allies (Pacifica and Albion). Many other arcologies in Africa, Asia, and Europe followed the lead of Shengli and Pillar of Hope in forming a new government, an independent government at that. Although the new government met some initial opposition from the Americas, reality eventually set in with Commonwealth of Earth being officially formed in late 3453 as a junta of various Earth militaries, mostly from Europe and East Asia. The IGSA on Earth was subsumed into the Commonwealth, and the IGSA across the Solar System was dealt a fatal blow.

With renewed fervour, the military junta sought to reaffirm their control over many former IGSA colonies. The newly formed Commonwealth Navy swelled in size and prepared to, in their words, claim their birthright.

Ceres, the Main Belt, and Mars (3456-3460)

The first major move the Commonwealth made involved the dwarf planet Ceres. Its status was left up in air after the effective collapse of the IGSA's authority with many Ceresians calling for a referendum and Mars waiting to see how the situation would play out. Before Ceres could decided on what to do however, the Commonwealth Navy arrived to seize Ceres by force in 3456 and made it a department of Earth. The Ceresians did not resist, but the takeover caused an uproar on Mars and throughout the system as an example of naked aggression. In the year following the Commonwealth's seizure of Ceres, Commonwealth forces would build up on Ceres in preparation for war with Mars.

The Commonwealth Navy would also begin enforcing its will over the larger asteroids in the Main Belt, coming into conflict with various Belters ranging from nationalist movements to pirates. Luckily for the Commonwealth, most Belters at least initially bowed to Earth's authority and did not cause too much trouble for the Commonwealth of Earth in its preparations for the coming war. The bigger problem would be the Martians, who contested the Commonwealth's claims over various parts of the Main Belt.

The breaking point finally came when a huge leak came out due to an intrepid Martian whistleblower codenamed Thrax leaking information he had obtained from the IGSA's Martian headquarters. The leak outlined a planned Commonwealth attack on Mars and failed attempts by the IGSA to negotiate with the Commonwealth. It then went into detail about how IGSA had gone to great lengths to cover up any information on the impending invasion, as they were confident that they could negotiate a settlement and did not want to panic the populace. This leak infuriated much of the public, especially those within the political establishment. The scandal lead to IGSA being expelled from Mars, but this action inadvertently played right into the machinations of the Commonwealth Government, that considered the expulsion of the organisation to be an act of aggression as outlined in IGSA law.

Course of the war

Commonwealth Invasion of Mars (3460-3467)

Following the expulsion of IGSA from Mars, the Union of Mars restructured itself as the Martian Federation, headed by the first Bureaucrat-President Isanoo Kienen, with its first form being an AI-aided social-technocratic bureaucracy. Within hours of their declaration the Commonwealth of Earth declared war on Mars, citing it was the duty of the Commonwealth to enforce IGSA law. This would mark the beginning of the Commonwealth Invasion of Mars.

The majority of Martian born IGSA officials on Mars resigned their posts to take up arms with their brothers and sisters against the invaders, alongside a minority of Earthers and Jovians. Those that did not were permitted to evacuate by the Federation government, with the Jovian Interstellar Republic offering political asylum for the crippled organisation. In response, large crowds gathered around the IGSA headquarters in Olympus Mons Metro. The Martian people were angry, blaming IGSA for inviting war upon their home, and soon the crowd broke the security cordon and entered the complex. Officials still in the process of clearing out their desks were brutally murdered, regardless of nationality, and after a day of violence the Olympian IGSA headquarters burned. The Federation made a formal apology for the incident, and scrambled to ramp up the security of other IGSA offices across Mars, but further atrocities slipped through the cracks, with an echoing incident in Mariner Valley City soon seizing headlines showing IGSA officials taken hostage by a mob led by a man declaring himself as the Vagabond. While this incident was effectively dealt with by the Martian Police, with the hostages being freed, IGSA-Mars relations were irredeemably soured.

Concurrently, the Martian Federation sent diplomats to the Commonwealth in an attempt to talk down their attackers. Leading the delegation were the presidents of both Mariner Valley and Olympus Mons, Lukas Orwellus and Isabelle Park. Orwellus was a war hawk within the Independents with controversial borderline ethno-nationalist views, while Park was a moderate within the Facilitators who had always favored autonomy over independence. The two met with Secretary General Chen Hsin-yi at the Zion Conference to attempt to broker a pact between the two nations. Orwellus and Park were given an ultimatum: submit to the Commonwealth’s authority or face its wrath. Chen explained that IGSA had failed to keep humanity united and that only a strong hand could bring stability to the cosmos. The Secretary General outlined the Commonwealth’s planned Neuordnung Solar with Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and all other objects in the Solar System under direct Earther control. When he was met with indignation from Orwellus, the Secretary General detained his guests.

After the arrest of Orwellus and Park, the Commonwealth offered an ultimatum to the Martian Government to agree to the terms of the Neuordnung Solar if they wished for the safe return of their leaders. Outraged by this barbarity, the Martian Government refused, issuing a formal declaration of war against the Commonwealth. The Earthers had a vastly superior navy compared to the Martians, and the Federation Navy was quickly driven off by the Commonwealth Navy after a battle near Deimos. The tattered Martian Navy would flee from there towards Saturn.

The ground invasion of Mars would begin in Olympus Mons and Elysium Mons, aimed to capture FRIEND and to destroy the Federation’s capability to wage war. Each stage of the invasion progressed at different rates, with the Olympus Mons Metro falling relatively quickly while Neo Arcadia proved to be a harder target, forcing the Commonwealth to resort to antimatter missiles to crack its defences. The entire state of Olympus Mons and the complex holding FRIEND would fall in 3461, and Commonwealth forces disconnected FRIEND from the rest of the planet. Mariner Valley City would be the next to be bombarded with antimatter missiles, but its newly unveiled Red Dome mobile all-weather air defense system proved surprisingly effective. As the Commonwealth struggled to hold down Olympus Mons while also pressing the other states, the Federation, led by Mariner Valley, attempted to go on a valiant - but ultimately disastrous - offensive. Olympus Mons Metro was quickly engulfed in drawn-out urban warfare between Earth and Mars as the Commonwealth struggled to retain its foothold in Elysium Mons.

Meanwhile in Olympus Mons, the Commonwealth's ability to project its power beyond the city proved difficult due to the joint resistance meted out by forces loyal to the Mariner Valley and Elysium Mons. Additionally, the city's high population density served as a logistical problem for the Commonwealth occupation, with the domestic situation worsening by the day. Protests and riots against the occupation were commonplace, and the Commonwealth Marines were unable to effectively divide their resources between continuing the invasion and containing the violence within the city. What had started as an orderly military occupation by the Commonwealth eventually became a hellish tempest of war crimes, guerrilla resistance and economic collapse, with Commonwealth forces withdrawing from most residential areas by 3462. Surviving records of the occupation are scarce, but paint a grim picture, detailing rape, starvation, killing contests (nicknamed "skinny" or "squatty" hunts by either side), mass executions, and various forms of torture including near-lethal gravity exposure. Commonwealth death squads, called Erdkomaadnos by Martians, specifically targeted dissidents, suspected guerrillas, and state gangers with deadly effectiveness that would be remembered with dread for generations by Martians.

For the next three years, the war plodded on as the Commonwealth became increasingly bogged down by the Martians' numbers. In 3465, Earther forces were routed from Elysium Mons and neighboring cities. Less than a month later, a revitalized Martian Navy - with accompanying Saturnian freelancers - returned to Martian orbit and fought the Commonwealth Navy to a standstill, temporarily tipping the balance in Mars's favour. Faced with an untenable situation in Olympus Mons Metro, the Commonwealth withdrew to Luna, directing a final payload of antimatter and electromagnetic pulse weapons at the FRIEND central hub in Olympus Mons, wiping it out in its entirety.

With the involvement of Saturnian freelancers, Jupiter was drawn into the war to prevent its rival in the Outer Planets from gaining power. The Jovian Navy would arrive soon after the naval battle over Mars, and the Martian Navy would flee back to Saturn. That defeat over Mars exhausted Martian forces, and the Martian Federation, weak but determined, sent a diplomatic delegation to Earth soon after the withdrawal to ask for a peace treaty with the Commonwealth. All the Commonwealth was willing to acquiesce to was an armistice with certain concessions from Mars such as it being stripped of its offworld holdings. The threat of a second invasion remained even after the armistice.

Mars would attempt to enact a formal peace with the Commonwealth for the next two years, with the Commonwealth regime proving to be a difficult diplomatic partner as Earth held an extreme power advantage over Mars. Nevertheless, Mars was able to avoid becoming a client state to the Commonwealth due to the Martians' high population and strong military. After months of negotiation, a peace agreement - the Europa Treaty - was eventually signed in 3467 between Kienen and the new Commonwealth Secretary General Lilel Brut-Anders, which included mutual recognition, details on mining rights within the Main Belt, a restoration of prisoners of war, and acceptance of responsibility of the war by Mars. The peace treaty proved to be wildly unpopular among the Martian population which would lead to the pre-war leaders of Mars to be replaced soon afterwards.

For the rest of the Commonwealth Wars, Mars would avoid the fate of many other places and would never have to directly submit to Earth. Tensions between Mars and Earth rose steadily throughout the continued hostilities of the Commonwealth Wars, with Mars assisting various causes fighting the Commonwealth within and outside the Solar System. However, open war was avoided between Mars and Earth for the rest of the Commonwealth Wars.

Outer Planets Crisis (3462)

During the Commonwealth-Martian War, the status of the Outer Planets Saturn and Jupiter were only vaguely defined. Both planets were now aware of Earth’s plans for a Neuordnung Solar, but neither wanted to provoke a war they could not win. The Jovian Republic and the State of Saturn combined had smaller populations than Mars and lacked the industrial powerbase that allowed the Martian Federation to wage war for so long on its own. Even working together, they could not oppose the Commonwealth for long. The issue of Uranus and Neptune also vexed the Outer Planets, as both Jupiter and Neptune desired them to a degree.

In 3462, a Commonwealth fleet led by Admiral Gordon Trank arrived over Europa claiming to possess recordings of Jovian officials conspiring with Mars and demanded the submission of Jupiter and Saturn. This led to a crisis that nearly escalated into all-out war between Earth and the Outer Planets. However, diplomats on all sides managed to deescalate the situation and work out an agreement, known as as the Outer States Treaty, in late 3462. Jupiter and Saturn agreed to become client states of the Commonwealth of Earth in exchange for self-governance and a promise of non-aggression while the Commonwealth would directly annex Uranus and Neptune. This arrangement would continue for the next fifty years or so, but it did not stop Jupiter from skirmishing with Earth over Pluto and supplying its enemies or Saturnian freelancers from temporarily assisting Mars in its war effort. Mars eventually assisted the Outer Planets in breaking away from Earth, but this affected the general course of the Commonwealth Wars very little.

Proxima Centauri b (3464)

The Alpha Centauri System was among the closest to the Solar System and the first explored by Earth. The sole planet orbiting its triple star system, Proxima Centauri b, was a backwater mining planet rich in sulfur, iron, and copper with little to offer in terms of habitability. However, the Commonwealth still felt compelled to secure Proxima Centauri b both for its resources and propaganda value. A single Naval warship ship, the CEN Nelson Mandela commanded by Captain Phoebe Norton, was sent along with some dropships to secure Proxima Centauri b. The Commonwealth expected to meet no resistance.

The CEN Nelson Mandela arrived over Proxima Centauri b in 3464, and as expected, the Commonwealth Marines upon landing met no resistance from the local miners to their claims on the planet. A tiny Commonwealth garrison was established on Proxima Centauri b after that, and the planet would remain under Commonwealth control for the rest of the Commonwealth Wars.

Pluto and Trans-Neptunian Objects (3465)

Soon after withdrawal from Mars, the Commonwealth of Earth would send a battle group to secure various Trans-Neptunian objects, most importantly Pluto. Commodore Vincent Lahaye was put in charge of the battle group and went about his task with much vigor.

The battle group would first arrive at Pluto, and Commonwealth Marines were deployed to the surface, claiming the rock for Earth along with its moons and Phlegethon. The ruling Gorgon Family initially offered some token resistance on Charon due to their patriarch Bartholomew Gorgon wanting to fight to the death with some firefights taking place, but the Gorgons would submit after Bartholomew‘s assassination and replacement by Nikolai Gorgon, a more amicable patriarch. Nikolai agreed to collaborate with the Commonwealth and acknowledge their rule under the condition that the Gorgons retained local governance over Pluto. Commodore Lahaye considered liquidating the Gorgons and taking direct control of Pluto instead, but he decided against it, convinced of the effectiveness of the Gorgons in keeping the dwarf planet stable. There would be Plutonians and Gorgons opposed Earther rule over the next century, but none of them truly threatened the Commonwealth’s hold on Pluto.

Using Pluto as a base of operations, Commodore Lahaye went on to secure the rest of Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud fairly quickly and largely without bloodshed. The only fights that took place at this time were a brief battle on Varda with locals over a misunderstanding and various skirmishes between the Commonwealth Navy and Kubelters. By the end of 3465, the vast majority of the trans-Neptunian objects fell under direct Commonwealth control with occupations taking place on a few, most prominently Pluto. However, the Commonwealth’s hold over this vast area of control would be disputed by their erstwhile Outer Planet allies, and Jupiter in particular skirmished with the Commonwealth over Pluto in the early thirty-sixth century, leading a heightening of tensions later during the Commonwealth Wars. Nevertheless, the Kuiper Belt and the scattered disc would remain relatively secure for the rest of the Commonwealth Wars, seeing no more armed conflict.

Barnard's Star b (3466)

About six light years away from Earth with a lone planet orbiting it, the Barnard's Star System was among the closest systems to the Solar System and therefore an easy target for the Commonwealth. The sole planet, Barnard's Star b, was a backwater ice mining planet of little value, but the Commonwealth coveted it nonetheless. This was partially because of Barnard's Star b's sizable population of dissidents and exiles from Earth, who the Commonwealth hoped to liquidate or at least bring under their purview. Rear Admiral Jane Wayne was put in charge of the small Barnard's Star Fleet set for Barnard's Star b with a sizable detachment of Commonwealth Marines under the direction of General Chrystian Kaczmarski.

The small fleet would arrive over Barnard's Star b in 3466 and made itself known by first bloodlessly taking over the planet’s orbital station. From there, Rear Admiral Wayne directed the landing of Commonwealth Marines on Barnard's Star b to secure major population centers, most importantly Port Barren.

No group on Barnard's Star b would move to oppose General Kaczmarski and his Commonwealth Marines, even after they started persecuting various communities and arresting exiles for “crimes” committed in the Solar System. The most notable of these arrested exiles were the Gaia Cooperative, a leftist commune that fled Earth in the aftermath of the Commonwealth’s independence, and the Daseinists, a dissident philosophical group originally from Pillar of Hope. Both groups along with a few others were rounded up by the Commonwealth Marines and shipped offworld to locales unknown. Barnard’s Star b would meanwhile remain under Commonwealth occupation for the rest of the Commonwealth Wars and under Commonwealth control for even longer.

Eros Incident (3470)

After the unsuccessful Commonwealth invasion of Mars and the Europa Treaty, both sides were given certain mining rights within the Main Belt. However, the native Belters were largely not taken into account during the treaty and were caught between the two sides. This was especially apparent on the larger asteroids of the Main Belt, who suddenly saw heavy militarization by either side, though mostly by the Commonwealth.

One such situation would play out on Eros in 3470. Eros, a traditionally Belter inhabited asteroid, was approached by a Commonwealth ship, the CES Dag Hammarskjöld, hoping to set up a listening station near the asteroid. The local Belters flatly refused the Commonwealth ship’s request and told them to “blow it out your ass”. When the Belters refused to even let the Dag Hammarskjöld dock, the ship returned to Ceres and reported the situation to the higher-ups. The Commonwealth would then return to Eros with a battle group and demanded that the Belters comply with their request to set up a listening post. The Belters would refuse and drag out the situation for weeks longer.

This attracted the attention of the Martian Federation, and soon enough, Martian ships were dispatched to “monitor the situation”. This led to unease among the Commonwealth, who did not desire to go to war with Mars again so quickly after ending the last war. The Commonwealth leadership considered drawing back, but they decided to continue to apply pressure on Eros. This proved to be a wise move, as the Belters on Eros would eventually cave to internal pressure and let the Commonwealth dock. The Belter ringleaders on Eros were rounded up and shipped off while the Main Belt was further secured against possible Martian aggression.

Battle of Ross 128 b (3471-3510)

A system only eleven light years away from Earth, the Ross 128 System held a lone planet of interest: Ross 128 b. The planet, a failed colony, was home to corporations, miners, and survivalists all scrambling for their small slice of governed space. The Commonwealth anticipated minimal resistance from the locals and dispatched only a small battle group led by Rear Admiral Estevão Duarte Clemente to deal with the planet.

Entering orbit in 3471, Rear Admiral Clemente seized the orbital station over Ross 128 b and landed Commonwealth Marines from there, led by the overzealous Colonel Thoma Katz. The Commonwealth Marines would establish themselves first in the capital Astrea where they accepted the submission of numerous corporate representatives and miners. They could have stopped there, but the local corporate executives egged Colonel Katz to seek the submission of the troublesome Devanan survivalists as well, hoping he would finally take care of the greatest threat to their power on the planet. This proved to be a disastrous mistake that jumpstarted the Battle of Ross 128 b.

The first meeting between the Devanans and Commonwealth Marines at Simbov proved disastrous. Colonel Katz, drunk on power, disregarded any of the subtleties in dealing with the Devanans and bluntly demanded their submission to the Commonwealth of Earth. The Devanans, not fully aware of who they were dealing with, refused this demand thinking that the Colonel was just another corporate mercenary. One thing led to another and soon enough, shooting started. No one exactly knows who shot first, but by the end, Colonel Katz and the Commonwealth Marines were in retreat with tens of their numbers dead.

After this initial battle, Rear Admiral Clemente briefly reached out to the colonel urging moderation in dealing with the locals. He advised trying negotiation before sending in more Commonwealth Marines. Colonel Katz refused this suggestion, and he deployed his Commonwealth Marines against the Devanans’ two primary dome cities: Rodrinsk and Simbov. The Commonwealth Marines would fight for much of the next two years to take these dome cities, finally doing so in 3473. However, that did not bring an end to hostilities. The Devanan rebels would simply go underground, hiding in caves and remote settlements while engaging in guerrilla warfare with the assistance of fellow Devanans and sympathetic miners. In 3474, the rebels finally coalesced into one somewhat unified group: the Devana Independence Army or DIA.

The DIA would initially struggle to gain any footing against Commonwealth Marines, having lost control of their population centers and lacking the Commonwealth’s technological edge. For much of 3474, Colonel Katz would prove quite effective in stamping out or capturing numerous DIA cells from his headquarters in Astrea. However, the DIA still had the sympathy of their own people and over time gained the sympathy of many non-Devanan miners who loathed the bloodthirsty Colonel Katz and their spineless corporate bosses. With the help of sympathizers, the DIA would build up the numbers and the arsenal to stand up to Commonwealth Marines. Staying hidden and mobile, the DIA would strike Commonwealth checkpoints and convoys without warning only to shrink back into Ross 128’s vast wastes. For nearly five years after the DIA’s formation, Colonel Katz failed to make any real progress against them beyond surprising ambushers. The DIA performed devastating attacks on Commonwealth military assets and the planet’s infrastructure at this time, even bombing the orbital station at one point. This all would take a toll on the Commonwealth Marines in terms of raw numbers and morale, with many on the Commonwealth losing any confidence in their own leadership in dealing with the situation. Colonel Katz, faced with immense pressure and potential disgrace, in 3479 turned to Rear Admiral Clemente for further advice. Clemente’s suggestion would shock even the colonel: internment camps.

After the shock wore off, the cold practicality of Clemente’s suggestion began to make sense to Colonel Katz. He knew Devanans in occupied dome cities were aiding DIA fighters, and if he rounded Devanans up without any means of aiding their allies, the DIA would lose its largest pool of support and supplies. Also, the population of Ross 128 b overall at the time was less than two million with the Devanans being a minority, so the undertaking would not be so difficult using his own Commonwealth Marines with the assistance of corporate stooges.

The Commonwealth occupation began rounding up the Devanans from their occupied dome cities in 3479 to move them to internment camps in Astrea. Considered too dangerous to simply let live without a careful eye on them, the Devanans were watched over by the watchful eyes of both Commonwealth Marines and former miners drafted into becoming internment camp workers. Meanwhile, the war in the wastes between the Commonwealth and DIA continued.

Over the next decade, the Commonwealth occupation made small gains against the DIA, stopping the earlier devastating attacks, but failed to extinguish the organization as they had hoped to. In 3484, Colonel Katz was killed by a improvised explosive device planted in his shuttle, and Rear Admiral Clementes took over the leader of the Commonwealth occupation. He would attempt a few times to mitigate the situation with the DIA and negotiate for peace, but the DIA refused. Their families were on the line, after all.

As word came down the pipeline that reinforcements were likely to come from Earth at least around 3493, the DIA made a big push against the occupation starting in 3490. This led to a severe escalation in violence with bombings in Astrea becoming extremely common. The Devanan internment camps were a favorite target for the DIA, and numerous breakouts would take place over the years. Things reached a fever pitch when the DIA retook the abandoned husk of Rodrinsk from an imprudent local garrison in 4991. The Commonwealth Marines meet this with overwhelming force, and the violence escalated for the next two years. In that time, Rear Admiral Clementes would also begin to put miners known to deal with the DIA in internment as well, and treatment of Devanans in internment worsened considerably.

Commonwealth reinforcements would finally arrive in late 3493 in the form of Admiral Hori Iyona, General Justin Whitworth, and a whole lot more Commonwealth Marines. These reinforcements found a beleaguered Rear Admiral Clementes attempting to repair an increasingly untenable situation. General Whitworth quickly relieved the Rear Admiral of his position as leader of the occupation and took over in his stead. The general would proceed to focus more on counter-insurgency rather than just simply waging war against the DIA. He kept the internment camps however, as they served their purpose. Captured DIA fighters were shipped back to Earth so as not to cause more trouble on Ross 128 b.

Not long after the arrival of the Commonwealth reinforcements, agents of the Martian Federation would arrive on Ross 128 b. These agents assessed the geopolitical situation and approached the DIA offering assistance in the form of weapons, vehicles, and specialized training. Although the Devanans were naturally suspicious of outsiders, they were now sufficiently desperate to accept the Martians’ help. The Martians’ help would assist in leveling the playing field once again between the Commonwealth occupation and the DIA, enabling the DIA to once again strike infrastructure with Martian-supplied drones. Martian agents would also assist the DIA in battle and even lead DIA cells at some levels. One of these Martian agents, Captain Jakob Morning, would quickly rise up to effectively become the second in command of the DIA, and he became the face of DIA, who the Commonwealth recast as an entirely Martian-created movement while disregarding the two decades of war predating the Martians’ involvement.

The insurgency would rage on for another decade before things started to really come to a head as the Commonwealth pushed for a speedy end in the face of mounting pressure on the fronts against Zhu Que and Tranquility. As it turned out, the Martian aid had come too little, too late. Nearly two generations of Devanans had lived and died in internment, and some DIA fighters had not seen their families in nearly thirty years. Many of the DIA were very stubborn, but as they grew older, they began to realize that perhaps the ruination of their families and their people as a whole was not worth this fight. As that realization began to hit, more and more DIA fighters began to surrender to the Commonwealth occupation with the trend starting around 3505. Over the next four years, DIA fighters would slowly surrender themselves to authorities in order to see their families and possibly reintegrate. General Whitworth took a generally lenient approach to surrendering DIA fighters but refused to release the Devanans from internment until the DIA leadership surrendered themselves.

The DIA leadership would do just that in 3510 after the evacuation of Martian agents in a public show of submission to the Commonwealth. General Whitworth graciously accepted the DIA leadership’s unconditional surrender, confiscated their weapons, and finally released the Devanans from internment in 3511 after more than thirty years, ending a war that had lasted longer than anyone wanted or expected. With blanket amnesty on surrendered DIA fighters, excluding the DIA leadership who were shipped off, and only a few stubborn holdouts, Ross 128 b would remain stable under Commonwealth rule for the rest of the Commonwealth Wars as the planet was rebuilt and demilitarized.

Vermilion War (3472-3476)

Zhu Que had been humanity's first exosolar colony, and therefore was a prime target for the Commonwealth of Earth along with the other two big exosolar colonies Tranquility and Nova. At the outbreak of the war with Mars, the Commonwealth's Luyten Fleet was formed to deal with Zhu Que. It was sent under the command of Vice Admiral Huo Jianhong along with a large number of corporate vessels to expand Earth's interests into the Luyten System.

In 3472, the Zhu Que Directorate found their system space swarmed by corporate vessels backed by the newly formed Commonwealth Navy. When the Zhu Que Navy opened fire upon the interlopers, all-out war broke out with the Commonwealth's Luyten Fleet. The short but bloody Vermilion War would begin with Commonwealth ships approaching the mining platforms around the gas giant Guanyin and being fired upon by the nervous Zhu Que picket. The Commonwealth's Luyten Fleet would quickly dispatch the picket and seize Guanyin's mining platforms, with Xiwangmu's falling soon afterwards. After that, Vice Admiral Huo would order a hard burn towards Zhu Que, the location of the majority of the enemy fleet.

The First Battle of Zhu Que would be a bloody one. The Luyten fleets of both the Commonwealth and Zhu Que clashed in orbit as numerous orbital stations were caught up in the battle, falling to the surface in hails of fire with the cost of many lives. In the end though, the Zhu Que Navy stood victorious over their technologically superior foe at the cost of millions of lives. The Commonwealth's Luyten Fleet was effectively shattered in the battle with Vice Admiral Huo dying in battle and Captain Uchechee Chinou taking command, steering the Commonwealth's remaining forces back to Earth.

The citizenry of the Directorate were incensed by the Commonwealth's attack, demanding retribution as public opinion spiked heavily in favour of a retaliatory strike against Earth. The logistics of waging an interstellar war were considered by the Director General and his closest advisers, and it was deemed to be a costly endeavor that served little tangible benefit to the Directorate. Instead his strategists advised taking advantage of Zhu Que's unique advantage in being in much closer proximity to several star systems compared with their distance from Earth.

The Procyon System was chosen as the target for Zhu Que's first Reclamation Fleet. With a proximity of 1.2 light years, the mission provided tangible justice for both the crews and the populace. While the binary star system lacked celestial bodies of worth, it possessed a wealth of mineral rich asteroids caught in the gravity well of the two stars and it was known to be home to several Earth based mining operations. While the citizens of the Directorate were not promised a strike against Earth, they were guaranteed an attack on the same corporations that had shed Zhu Que blood. The fleet set off in 3475 and arrived in the first quarter of 3476. The strike was swift and decisive, crippling the corporate fleets and seizing their mining stations. With the usurping of Procyon from Earth's sphere of influence, the Zhu Que Directorate fully demonstrated its capability as an Interstellar State.

The Procyon Reclamation Fleet returned to the Luyten System in 3477 and the crews received a heroes' welcome. A national holiday was declared as Victory Day on June 30th 3477 and parades were held in every major city across the planet. The nationalist fervor that swept the nation soothed tensions that had been brewing in recent years. The Vermilion War ended with what Zhu Que saw as a stunning victory against Earth, but it would not lessen the Commonwealth's resolve to reclaim what they saw as rightfully their's, at least yet.

Zilong (3472)

In the late 3400s, the Gliese 1061 System remained on the frontier of governed space after its colonisation centuries earlier. The system's sole inhabited planet, Zilong, was still a thinly-peopled struggling colony. Still, the Commonwealth saw Zilong as rightfully their's, and so, a battle group led by Rear Admiral Andrew Cohn was sent to the Gliese 1061 System in 3460 to secure the system. The Commonwealth expected minimal resistance from the colonists.

The Commonwealth battle group arrived over Zilong in 3472 and first seized the orbital station over the planet, announcing their arrival. The colonists on the surface quickly notified Rear Admiral Cohn of their submission, and the leaders of the colony offered hospitality to the battle group's officers. Rear Admiral Cohn and his officers landed at the capital Philotes, and they would feast with the colonists for about a week. The rear admiral would explain the changing interstellar situation to the colonists, and he informed them of the Commonwealth's plans for the Solar System and the rest of governed space. After a week, Rear Admiral Cohn departed Zilong and left behind a few Commonwealth Marines in the planet's orbital station to keep an eye on the system. The Gliese 1061 System would remain under Commonwealth rule for the rest of the Commonwealth Wars with minimal attention paid to system.

Conflict in the Belt, Luna Raids, and Solar System Tensions (3475-3512)

In the years following the Europa Treaty, the situation within the Solar System had calmed down considerably. After the Eros Incident and other similar scrapes in both the Main Belt and Kuiper Belt between the Commonwealth and Belters however, that fragile peace began to fall apart. Belters would once again begin to band together into self-determination groups to resist the Commonwealth, as they had done against predatory corporate interests and the overbearing IGSA before. These self-determination groups would mostly become pirate crews who assailed Commonwealth shipping for the next couple decades. The Commonwealth reacted to this by clamping down on self-governing Belter populations in the Belt and asserting their control over the larger asteroids in the Main Belt. These actions led to several skirmishes between Belters and the Commonwealth over the years with Belter pirates being a persistent threat in the late thirty fifth century. The largest of these skirmishes would be at Pallas, Eunomia, and Eros (again).

Belter nationalism would only increase as the Commonwealth clamped down harder upon pirates in the Main Belt. The Eros Incident remained fresh in the minds of the Belters, and there was a palpable hatred for Earthers and indeed many other "planet-bound" among the Belters, as even the Martians refused to assist the Belters due to their own interests in the Main Belt. The only group willing to deal with Belter pirates were Saturnians, who gladly sold them anything they needed as long as they could pay discreetly so as not to anger their Earther overlords. This situation spiraled out of control in 3506 when Belter pirates and terrorists committed two successive massacres against civilians on Luna. The Luna Raids yielded millions of casualties and proved highly embarrassing for the Commonwealth when it was seemingly at the height of its power. This would bring the Main Belt sharply into focus, and there was an immediate bloody crackdown on Belters throughout the Solar System, leading to further bloodshed. Belters across the Solar System, mostly in the Main Belt, were suppressed by Commonwealth forces with mass rape, pillaging, and massacres on several stations and asteroids. However, this crackdown would at least prove more effective than the Commonwealth's previous anti-piracy efforts, and Belter pirates were largely pacified by 3510.

However, the Commonwealth would be dealing with more trouble than just Belters in the Solar System. The Jovian Republic and the Union of Saturn, although both officially client states of Earth, drifted further away from the Commonwealth as time passed. For Saturn, this was largely due to the Commonwealth's restrictive attitudes and Saturn's continued support for Belters. Meanwhile, the Jovian Republic came to blows with the Commonwealth over Jupiter's claim on Pluto, the initial threats to Jupiter made by Admiral Gordon Trank, and the inhumane treatment of Earth's enemies. These tensions culminated most tangibly in skirmishes between Commonwealth and Jovian ships over Pluto intermittently throughout the 3500s. Luckily, these skirmishes would not lead to a break in relations between the states, but it soured the relationship between Earth and its new client states.

Battle of Proudhon (3477-3500)

A system seventeen light years away from Earth, the LHS 1723 System laid on the frontier of governed space. Proudhon, the sole inhabited planet of the system, was settled three centuries earlier by Saturnian anti-state social anarchists who desired absolute freedom from the nascent Union of Saturn. Because of the generally extreme political position of the Proudhon colonists and their previous hostility towards corporations, the Commonwealth expected significant if ineffective resistance. Commodore Marcus Ford was placed in charge of the LHS 1723 Fleet while the experienced General Vlatko Jović was put in charge of the battle group's Commonwealth Marines.

Arriving over Proudhon in 3477, the LHS 1723 Fleet was met with immediate hostility by the locals, who were already anticipating their arrival due to well-placed paranoia about the Commonwealth's declaration of war upon humanity's colonies. The Proudhon colonists, organized into Red Star Brigades, locked down the planet's orbital station before the arrival of the LHS 1723 Fleet in order to militarize it, and they fired upon the Commonwealth ships first.

Commodore Marcus Ford would eventually take the orbital station over Proudhon, but the battle cost the LHS 1723 Fleet dearly. Using their own ships to perform suicide attacks, the Red Star Brigades managed to destroy a not inconsiderable proportion of the Commonwealth Fleet and kill a significant number of Commonwealth Marines. However, the Commonwealth forces were determined to take Proudhon and their losses were not a deterrent, at least at the moment.

Commonwealth Marines, led by General Jović, landed near the capital of Proudhon, Makhno, to begin their takeover of the planet, and the Red Star Brigades, led by their Military Leader Étienne Gaudreau, attacked the invaders with increased ferocity. Even with air support, this stifled the efforts of the Commonwealth Marines to gain a foothold on Proudhon, and they eventually relocated their landing zone to another uninhabited part of the terminator zone. From there, General Jović would work with his now reduced forces to make small gains against the Red Star Brigades instead of attacking them at their strongest point like before. Meanwhile, Commodore Ford and the LHS 1723 Fleet blockaded Brigade-held territory and give air support to Commonwealth forces on the ground. This lead to slow but steady progress by General Jović over the next five years as the Commonwealth Marines methodically cleared areas of Red Star Brigades influence and secured population centers.

A new factor would enter play with the arrival of agents of the Martian Federation in 3482, who had estimated Proudhon would be one of the most likely exosolar colonies to ably resist occupation by the Commonwealth. The Martian agents were pleasantly surprised to find the Red Star Brigades led by Military Leader Gaudreau still in control of large portions of the planet fighting against a straining force of Commonwealth Marines led by the dogged General Jović. After narrowing avoided capture by Commodore Ford, the Martian agents would land on Proudhon unmolested and offer their services to Military Leader Gaudreau. This offer drove an unintended wedge between the various factions of the Red Star Brigades and vexed Gaudreau to no end for days. While the majority of the Red Star Brigades saw the obvious benefits of accepting help from the Martians, a more dogmatic minority decried cooperation with any state, particularly one as powerful as Mars. They saw it as a betrayal of their time-honored principles and threatened to split from the larger organization if Martian aid was accepted. Military Leader Gaudreau would eventually make the tough decision to accept Martian aid which led to a split in the ranks of the Red Star Brigades. The minority anti-aid faction, led by Comrade Hosea Brasch, created the Popular Revolutionary Brigades, and they seized a portion of the front from the Red Star Brigades, causing disorder among the lines on the Proudhon colonists. Almost immediately afterwards, the Commonwealth Marines and General Jović surged against the newly formed Popular Brigades. The Red Star Brigades would quickly move to assist the Popular Brigades despite protests, and the whole situation became a quagmire of violence for the next year as part of the Proudhon colonists' front line collapsed.

After a year of disarray, the Red Star Brigades, with the aid of Martian agents and the now tentatively allied Popular Brigades, managed to stabilize the situation 3483 after considerable losses. Martian-supplied drones and vehicles would assist in these efforts as Military Leader Gaudreau increasingly relied upon his Martian advisers, particularly the Martian firebrand Xie Xinyue who directly sympathised with the views of the Red Star Brigades. The Martian drones allowed the Red Star Brigades to contest the skies of Proudhon for the first time, and after the consolidation of their own front lines, they would go on the offensive against Commonwealth Marines. This surprised General Jović, but he managed to skillfully hold back the Red Star Brigades with his limited resources, with the offensive in 3483 proving to be a failure. Thousands of Red Star Brigade members were taken prisoner in this offensive, and these POWs were either executed without trial or taken offworld back to the Solar System to be detained. Meanwhile, the Red Star Brigades grew increasingly desperate in the wake of their failed offensive throwing everything they could at the Commonwealth Marines through the use of suicide attacks and scorched earth tactics to deny the Commonwealth resources. The Battle of Proudhon heated up over the next decade as the Commonwealth Marines neared Makhno, and urban warfare began.

Makhno would finally fall to the Commonwealth Marines in 3491, and the Red Star Brigades dispersed into the wastes, still led by the dogged Military Leader Gaudreau. However, it was now clear that the Battle of Proudhon was lost as most Proudhones seemed to care less about their convictions rather than their immediate survival. Still, Military Leader Gaudreau and much of the Red Star Brigades declared their intention to fight on to retake Makhno and eventually Proudhon from the Commonwealth. However, Gaudreau, other Red Star Brigade members, and the Martian agents on Proudhon would simultaneously begin to look for a way out of the system to escape execution or imprisonment. Gaudreau, the Martian agents, and many other Red Star Brigades managed to escape Proudhon in 3494, but this was not widely known within the Red Star Brigades, leading to no real fall in morale.

Over the next nine years after the fall of Makhno, the Battle of Proudhon would continue in the wastes of the planet between the Commonwealth Marines, still led by General Jović, and the Red Star Brigades, now led by Military Leader Brasch. Over time, the Red Star Brigades became increasingly decentralised and fractured, with Brasch losing control of the organisation in 3498. Brasch would be captured later that year by Commonwealth Marines on the outskirts of Makhno, and in the next two years, most remaining Red Star Brigades surrendered to the Commonwealth occupation or fled offworld. A scant few continued their struggle to bitter end for years later, but the Battle of Proudhon would effectively draw to a close in 3500 with the surrender of the last large Red Star Brigade, the 4th Brigade. Proudhon remained solidly under Commonwealth control for the rest of the Commonwealth Wars, though remnants of the Red Star Brigades would trouble authorities for the next decade or so.

Nova (3479)

Colonised by the the Nova Generation Ship almost a century before the beginning of the Commonwealth Wars, the Wolf 1061 System lay in a precarious position as one of humanity's most prosperous newer colonies. The Novians, centered upon their homeworld Nova but also located on Napp's World and Konig's World, boasted a thriving economy and a sturdy military able to fend off any regional threats such as pirates or dissidents. However, they were wholly unprepared for what the Commonwealth was willing to throw at them.

Considered one of the "big three" exosolar colonies alongside Zhu Que and Tranquility, Nova was a natural target for the Commonwealth. After the withdrawal from Mars, the Commonwealth's Wolf 1061 Fleet was formed under the command of Admiral Gordon Trank and sent to the Wolfe 1061 System to secure it for the Commonwealth along with a considerable force of Commonwealth Marines and a large number of corporate vessels. The Commonwealth hoped to either cow the Novians through overwhelming force or conquer them through naked force.

The Wolf 1061 Fleet arrived at the edges of the Wolfe 1061 System in 3479. The Republic of Nova found their system space swarmed by corporate vessels backed by the newly formed Commonwealth Navy. Instead of firing upon these strange vessels, Novian ships hailed them and offered to take Admiral Trank to Nova to talk to their government. A bit more shrewd after his poor showing during the Outer Planets Crisis, Admiral Trank accepted the Novians' offer and was transported to Nova to talk to the Republic's President, Damion Schultz. The two parties would negotiate for a little over two months as the fleets on both sides sat restless, with Commonwealth's forces especially itching for a fight. It would be one that they did not get however, as the Republic of Nova submitted to the authority of the Commonwealth as its newest client state two months after the arrival of Admiral Trank on Nova. The government of Nova remained unchanged under the condition that they would aid the Commonwealth in their further wars in some capacity. This displeased some within the Commonwealth's ranks, but overall, the submission of Nova without a shot was considered a diplomatic coup with Admiral Trank being widely celebrated for it. Admiral Trank would bring the Erpublik Nova Navy Solar Fleet back with him to the Solar System in 3493, and Novians subsequently played a more direct role in the Commonwealth Wars than any of the Commonwealth's other allies. Nova itself however remained largely unaffected by the Commonwealth Wars after its submission to Earth aside from an increase in immigration from the Solar System.

First Tranquil War (3481-3492)

The Gliese 832 System was settled at the beginning of the thirty-third century by wealthy corporate financiers seeking to avoid the strict legislation of IGSA and INTPOL that banned AI development. These colonists set up orbital settlements known as the Tranquility Launch Arco and the Sentinel Metro around the planet Tranquility and colonised the space stations of Serenity. The Tranquilans made great strides in technology in their isolation, and the system became one of humanity's most prosperous newer colonies. Their military consisted of a strong navy and army supplemented by cybernetic enhancements and intelligent machines.

Considered one of the "big three" exosolar colonies alongside Zhu Que and Nova, Tranquility was considered second in importance after Zhu Que. After the withdrawal from Mars, the Commonwealth's Gliese 832 Fleet was formed under the command of Admiral Oscar Campos and sent to the Gliese 832 System to secure it for the Commonwealth along with a considerable force of Commonwealth Marines and a large number of corporate vessels. The Commonwealth hoped that the Tranquilans would submit without a fight, but they were prepared for a fight if necessary.

In 3481, the State of Tranquility found its system space swarmed by corporate vessels backed by the newly formed Commonwealth Navy. The Tranquility Navy, aware of the Commonwealth's intention, gave a warning to the Gliese 832 Fleet and Earther corporate vessels to turn back. Admiral Campos ignored the the warning, and the Gliese 832 Fleet continued their approach towards Tranquility.

The Commonwealth fleet would find Tranquility's orbital stations heavily fortified against attack and surrounded by the strong Tranquility Fleet, led by Admiral Aegeus Kimber, a scion of a minor branch of the Kimber family of Kimber Drive fame. For a short while, the two fleets faced off against one another from a distance but did not engage. Admiral Campos assessed that while he might be able to defeat Tranquility's fleet in a one-to-one battle, he would lose if the enemy was assisted by the batteries of the Tranquility Launch Arco and Sentinel Metro. The Gliese 832 Fleet did not engage the Tranquility Fleet at Tranquility but would instead attempt to draw it out to a location of Campos's choosing. With that intention, the Commonwealth's Gliese 832 Fleet forged deeper into the system around Tranquility and headed towards Serenity and its stations. The Commonwealth cut off Tranquility from the resources of the gas giant Serenity, and the Tranquilans would be forced to engage. Admiral Kimber and the Tranquility Fleet remained at Tranquility however, as they knew that confrontation with the Commonwealth's Gliese 832 Fleet outside the safety of Tranquility's "ring" of defenses was tantamount to suicide. The Tranquility Navy instead focused on capturing the corporate vessels the Commonwealth fleet brought with it and holding for aid from other interstellar powers.

The Gliese 832 Fleet arrived in orbit of Serenity and began sending Commonwealth Marines to seize orbital stations while preparing to invade all six of the gas giants' stations and take control of the mining, research, and agriculture projects there. The Siege of Serenity began. Admiral Campos sent down a message to the stations' inhabitants offering them conditional surrender with five of the smaller stations (Adah, Awan, Azura, Seth, and Zillah) surrendering without a fight. Meanwhile, the larger stations Adam, Chavah, and Lilith and the smaller station Lamech refused to surrender. The three larger station held limited defenses and Tranquilan garrisons while Lamech was simply held by armed civilians. Encircling all four of these holdouts, the Commonwealth began to land Commonwealth Marines to the secure the stations while keeping an eye on the Tranquility Navy at their backs. The Commonwealth Marines, led overall by General Kagawa Yatsuhiro, would engage Tranquilan Defense Forces and armed civilians immediately upon landing, making establishing beachheads difficult even with control of airspace.

Four separate battles playing out on Serenity's stations beginning in 3481 with the Battle of Lilith proving to be the most ferocious. The Battle of Lamech between Commonwealth Marines and armed Tranquilan civilians would be the shortest of the four battles, with Lamech falling only five days after the battle began. Nevertheless, the defense at Lamech would be lionized by Tranquility and stiffen resistance on the other stations. The Tranquilan Defence Forces on the four remaining stations, although severely outnumbered and surrounded, outclassed their Commonwealth opponents technologically and were still able to coordinate surprisingly well while under extreme duress. Command of Tranquilan Defense Forces on the stationswas shared between three officers who led forces on each of the stations. After a year of battering the Tranquilans on the stations, Commonwealth forces switched gears to focus on a more measured and methodical approach. The stations were largely self-sufficient, but without outside aid, they would eventually fall. This was seen four years after the beginning of the siege in 3485 when the Battle of Adam ended with Commonwealth Marines overwhelming the last Tranquilan Defense Force position on the station after two months of continuous gains.

While the Siege of Serenity occurred, Tranquility did not sit idle. The Tranquility Fleet eliminated predatory corporate vessels near Tranquility, and Tranquilan skirmishers probed the the perimeter of the Gliese 832 Fleet surrounding Serenity. The Tranquilans knew that they could not beat the Commonwealth Navy in the system in a pitched battle outside their defenses, so they used asymmetrical warfare to undermine the Commonwealth's position. This was mostly done through interfering with communication, hacking enemy systems, and various forms of subterfuge. This was effective in slowing the Siege of Serenity with the TDF even managing to kill General Yatsuhiro through a convoluted assassination, but the Tranquilans were unable to dislodge Commonwealth forces. In 3488, the Battle of Chavah ended with a Commonwealth victory, leaving only Lilith. The Commonwealth would continuously hammer Lilith for the next three years as the Tranquilan Fleet looked for a way to salvage the situation and defeat the Gliese 832 Fleet. This effort turned into Operation Hypnos, and it culminated in 3491.

Operation Hypnos was a deliberate false effort by Tranquility to appear as if it was developing a super-weapon, in this case, a powerful artificial intelligence with the ability to command Tranquility's defense grid and perhaps even commandeer enemy ships remotely. Although these were far beyond Tranquility's actual capabilities, the Tranquilans made it appear to Commonwealth intelligence, and many of their own, that they were on the precipice of achieving this goal. That made many within the Gliese 832 Fleet anxious and as more intel leaked out related to Operation Hypnos, Commonwealth officers increasingly urged Admiral Oscar Campos to move quickly on the Sentinel Metro, hell or high water. It would not matter whether or not Tranquility controlled Serenity's stations if they were able to attack the Commonwealth Navy's software. Also, the blockade around the Gliese 832 System was weak, and Admiral Campos knew their strategy of starving out Tranquility had been ineffective. So finally in 3491, Admiral Campos diverted his fleet from Serenity towards Tranquility and the Sentinel Metro.

The First Battle of Tranquility was a titanic battle fought between the Gliese 832 Fleet under the command of Admiral Oscar Campos and the Tranquilan Fleet under the command of Admiral Aegus Kimber outside the Sentinel Metro after a decade of anticipation. The battle began slightly out of range of many of the station's anti-torpedo cannons, EMP seekers, point defense drones, and drive dampeners, but as expected, Admiral Kimber would draw the enemy into range. This effectively nullified the Commonwealth's early advantage in the battle, though the strafing of Sentinel F would lead to unexpected difficulties for Tranquility. Nonetheless, the Tranquilan Fleet in the end managed to defeat the Gliese 832 Fleet and send its remnants running back to Serenity at the cost of many ships and human lives.

Tranquility did not take this victory for granted however. The Tranquilan Fleet pursued the Gliese 832 Fleet to Serenity and ran the fleet further off into the system's Oort Cloud, leaving many Commonwealth Marines on the stations of Serenity stranded. From there, Tranquility relieved Lilith after years of warfare and set about their own Siege of Serenity to free the planet's stations from occupation. Admiral Campos would return to the Solar System in disgrace in 3507, and he was removed from his position. The victorious Admiral Kimber would in the meantime continue his pursuit of the Commonwealth fleet out of the system, and he returned celebrated as a national hero. The stations of Serenity would finally all fall back into Tranquilan hands a year later, and the State of Tranquility would afterwards send diplomats to Earth to negotiate terms for peace. These diplomats arrived only after the Commonwealth had sent another fleet to claim Tranquility.

Battle of Eden (3481)

Considered "ungoverned space", the Teegarden's Star System was still seen as uncharted territory in the 3400s. Two colony ships had effectively disappeared in the system, and corporate ships attempting to broach the system's Outer Belt were often attacked by unknown assailants. Most people chalked the system up to being infested by pirates and avoided it.

However, the Commonwealth of Earth knew better. There were concrete records of the existence of human colonies on Eden inside Earther archives and therefore the Commonwealth determined that the planet was their birthright along with the Earth's other colonies. The Commonwealth leadership assumed that the planet had been serving as a pirate base and planned accordingly for a tough fight. At eleven light years away from Earth, Eden was among the first on the Commonwealth's list of future conquests. Commodore Irene Lehrer was put in charge of the Commonwealth's Teegarden Fleet along with attached ground forces to secure Eden.

The Commonwealth's Teegarden Fleet would arrive over Eden in 3481 and would be met with a token defense by the ships of the Baptist Martial Brotherhood, Eden's leading power. Commodore Lehrer and her forces were initially surprised by the Brotherhood's quick reaction to their arrival but soon came to see that the Edenite forces were vastly inferior to their own. The Baptist Martial Brotherhood had a couple of ships taken from the original colonisation and later captures, but those ships were paltry against the overwhelming force brought by the Commonwealth of Earth. Most of the defending ships were destroyed while a few fled the battle above Eden between the Baptist Martial Brotherhood's ships and the Commonwealth's Teegarden Fleet. While all this happened in orbit, the population of Eden watched with a mix of terror and anger. Even Jericho, the enemy of the Baptist Martial Brotherhood, understood the gravity of the situation. Eden itself was under threat, and the entire planet was now at war.

After securing Eden's orbit, the Commonwealth ships initially threatened bombardment against any settlements on the planet that resisted their rule, and they were surprised to be met with overwhelming rejection. Commodore Lehrer considered going through with the bombardment, but she decided in the end to mount a surface invasion instead. The commodore excused this by saying that she did not want to irreversibly destroy all the current settlements. Landing ships were launched from the Commonwealth's Teegarden Fleet and landed on Eden, with the Commonwealth Marines being led by a young Colonel Konstantin Vagin. In this brief time, Jericho and the Baptist Martial Brotherhood finally worked out a truce, not that it would do them much good. The Battle of Eden lasted about two weeks, with Ham holding out the longest. One by one, dome cities fell, and millions became refugees in the tunnels to flee from an expected genocide. Ham was the last settlement to fall, with remaining members of the Jericho Church and the Baptist Martial Brotherhood fighting side by side to defend their paradise, their new Eden. Their defense would fail however, and Eden quickly fell to the Commonwealth of Earth. This led to chaos across Eden for a time as the population panicked like frightened sheep in the face of a wolf. A fifth of the planet's population died in the weeks of the initial invasion with most of these casualties coming from refugees who were unable to adapt to conditions in Eden's tunnels, and many Baptist Martial Brotherhood and Jericho Church POWs were either executed on Eden without trial or taken offworld back to the Solar System to be detained. The Commonwealth's occupation of the planet would remain secure for the rest of the Commonwealth Wars, with the Edenites' resolve to fight on largely crushed until the later First Edenite Rebellion.

Luyten's War (3500-3550)

Twenty-four years after the Zhu Que attack on the Procyon System had taken place, the Commonwealth Navy sent another, larger fleet led by Admiral Vincent Lahaye to pacify the Luyten System in 3488, and the Zhu Que’s new military-industrial complex was put to its first real test.

In 3500, the Commonwealth Navy's new Luyten Fleet arrived in the system, signaling the beginning of what would later be known as Luyten's War. Admiral Lahaye adopted a different strategy from the ill fated one used by the previous Luyten Fleet in the Vermilion War. Instead of engaging in a coordinated rush against the Zhu Que Navy, the fleet began by systematically targeting Zhu Que space stations in Luyten's Oort Cloud, before retreating into deep space. This persisted for years as a cat and mouse game played out between the two navies while reinforcements from Earth trickled in following the success of the Battle of Eden and other exosolar campaigns.

By 3511 Zhu Que had lost access to the resources of the Outer Belt and was limited to the inner system, as slowly and methodically, the outposts of the Directorate fell. The two fleets finally came to a head in 3512 at the Battle of Guanyin, which saw the Zhu Que Navy defeated by the reinforced Commonwealth fleet led by Admiral Lahaye. With their major shipyards and refueling stations lost, and the bulk of their fleet destroyed, the remnants of the Zhu Que Navy limped back towards Luyten's Star.

The Director General of Zhu Que issued a missive to his fleet to hard burn towards Fenghuang and to abandon the defence of their homeworld if they wished to win the war. With the planet on a full war footing, the Directorate was prepared for when the Commonwealth Navy entered Zhu Que's orbit, firing on the fleet with planetary railguns and inflicting heavy losses. Antimatter weapons were sanctioned for use against the railgun emplacements by the Commonwealth Navy until the guns fell silent. Commonwealth Marines, led by General Penelope Ruíz, were deployed to the surface, and the war on the ground began. Commonwealth forces faced severe resistance from the Zhu Que Army, bolstered by a heavily armed populace.

With the Commonwealth Navy focused on the invasion, the Director General instructed the Zhu Que Navy to hard burn for Guanyin, refuel and await further instruction. Only a day later the Director General offered an official surrender to the invading forces, inviting them to disarm his military, while he sent an encrypted tight beam to the Zhu Que Navy to strike at the Commonwealth fleet. As the officials including Admiral Lahaye descended planet side to formally accept the surrender, the Zhu Que Navy remnants launched their surprise attack against an unprepared foe, specifically targeting their interstellar capable warships in a hit and run attack. Simultaneously, the Zhu Que Army turned their guns on their occupiers, leading to an outbreak of all out war on the surface. Admiral Lahaye of the Commonwealth Navy's Luyten Fleet was detained by the Director General's forces. Accused of deceit and perfidy by the indignant Commonwealth officials, the Director General had them imprisoned. General Ruíz, not present at the assumed surrender acceptance, continued an increasingly desperate fight on the ground with her Commonwealth Marines.

Without a means of leaving the system and with their commanding officers imprisoned, the Luyten Fleet fell into disarray. Some vessels turned their weapons against the planet in vengeful retribution against their deceivers, others attempted to flee into the Oort Cloud, in the hope of reinforcements coming to bolster them. Zhu Que suffered during the chaos, with cities leveled and civilians slaughtered in the millions. The capital, Fanrong, did not survive the carnage, hit by a salvo of antimatter missiles. General Ruíz and many of the Commonwealth Marines sent down to Zhu Que would perish during this bombardment, killed either by friendly fire or avenging Zhu Que forces. A truce was forced when the last vestiges of the Commnonwealth Luyten Fleet that still hung in Zhu Que orbit were neutralized. The Directorate stood victorious after the Second Battle of Zhu Que, but at a high cost to the planet. The Director General sent a message to the Solar System warning the Commonwealth government that any further action against the Luyten System would invite a retaliatory strike against Earth itself.

The Zhu Que Navy consolidated its position and prepared for further conflict, their fleet bolstered by captured Commonwealth vessels. On the ground the citizenry were mobilized en masse, in preparation for a second invasion attempt. The Guanyin Shipyards were reclaimed towards the end of the year with production of new vessels resumed by 3513. A near endless stream of Commonwealth Navy reinforcements poured into the system for the next twenty four years, their ships picked off, boarded and captured by the seasoned Zhu Que Navy. In 3538 the Directorate received a message acknowledging their threat and issuing a call for an end to the hostilities between the two states.

On April 20th 3550, fifty years after the war began within the Luyten System, a Zhu Que delegation arrived on Luna to sign the Earth-Zhu Que Peace Treaty, moderated by a reborn IGSA. The treaty outlined that Earth was to recognise the sovereignty of the Zhu Que Directorate claims over the Luyten and Procyon systems, so long as free passage was maintained for commercial vessels within Zhu Que space. In turn, Zhu Que recognised the sovereignty of the Commonwealth of Earth's ownership of Mercury, Venus, Ceres, and many Trans-Neptunian objects, as well as their extrasolar claims in the Centauri and Teegarden systems, with the same stipulations on commercial vessels in place. Additionally, the Commonwealth of Earth and the Zhu Que Directorate were granted readmission into IGSA, along with ascent to the Joint Security Council as their first permanent members.

Zhu Que would remain safe from Commonwealth predation for the rest of the Commonwealth Wars, but that did not stop them from participating in other ways, namely assisting Earth’s enemies. Zhu Que, alongside Mars, would grow to become one of Commonwealth’s main rivals on the interstellar stage.

Trappist War (3500-3579)

After the "big three" exosolar colonies of Nova, Tranquility, and Zhu Que, the colonies in the Trappist System were perhaps of most importance to the Commonwealth of Earth. Consisting of three planets under the jurisdiction of Earther colonists and four under the jurisdiction of Martian colonists, the Trappist System was politically divided similarly to the Solar System but rich in potential resources and capital, especially due to its numerous habitable planets. The Commonwealth Navy sent the Trappist Fleet led by Admiral Chen Wuhan to pacify the Trappist System in 3461 during the Commonwealth-Martian War to both conquer the Martian colonies and to secure the Earther colonies. The Trappist Fleet would finally arrive in 3500 to a system already embroiled in conflict. The sharp decline of the IGSA had a severe effect on the system with the War of the Caliphate breaking out on Qaf and Akash and severe unrest on Bellona. The Commonwealth forces would first focus upon first securing the more sparsely populated colonies: Akash, Jahannama, Kienen, Salsabil, and Tezuka. All these planets fell with ease to the fleet and Commonwealth Marines as the Trappist Martians held back the majority of their forces to defend Bellona while Qaf paid little attention, still wrapped up in their own affairs.

After preparations, the Trappist Fleet moved against the naval forces of the Trappist Martians. This small fleet, led by Captain Lucia Fugue, had been hastily assembled by the Trappist Martians, and they had a largely pessimistic view of the upcoming battle. The Trappist Martians asked for aid from Qaf, but the Qafis, wrapped up in their war, were reluctant to aid them. So, the small fleet met the Commonwealth's Trappist Fleet over Bellona, alone.

Captain Fugue's last stand over Bellona was seen as heroic but was, in the end, doomed. The Trappist Martians' little fleet was destroyed utterly by the Trappist Fleet, and Commonwealth Marines landed on Bellona to secure it shortly after. Security forces on Bellona briefly resisted Commonwealth Marines, but resistance fell apart soon after the ground assault began, with Bellona security forces woefully under-supplied and under-prepared. All the Trappist Martians were soon brought under Commonwealth rule as Admiral Chen Wuhan changed his focus from Bellona to Qaf.

Qaf posed a unique problem to the Commonwealth, as it was already embroiled in a many-sided war when Commonwealth Forces arrived in the Trappist System, the War of the Caliphate. Commonwealth officers in the Trappist Fleet originally hoped that Qaf's divided state led to a easy victory. However after Bellona fell to the Commonwealth, it soon became clear that it would be a hard fought battle to take Qaf. Initial efforts to land troops in Qaf's capital were repelled by multiple factions, and Admiral Wuhan decided that the Commonwealth would need assistance in their invasion. For this, the Commonwealth reached out to several factions in attempt to pull together a coalition to restore order on Qaf and bring down the hostile Qafi Caliphate. Talks with both the Free Qafi Army and the Alliance for Democracy were held, but the two factions still viewed one another with hostility and were not encouraged to get along by the austere Admiral Wuhan. Eventually, the Alliance for Democracy walked out of the talks while the Free Qafi Army continued their talks with the Commonwealth. In early 3501, the Commonwealth of Earth and the Free Qafi Army came to an accord, and Admiral Wuhan recognized the FQA as the legitimate government of Qaf.

With the support of the Commonwealth, the Free Qafi Army soon enough turned their fortunes around and managed to secure the Urban Core from the Caliphate after a hard-fought battle in 3504. However, the War of the Caliphate would not end there, and the various factions on Qaf continued their war against the new dominant power. Commonwealth forces aided the FQA in their efforts to assert control over the planet.

However, that proved harder than first thought. Caliphate forces consolidated in the Valley of the Prophets, and the Alliance for Democracy aligned with jihadists to defend their strongholds in the Shiva Mountains and other areas. Commonwealth forces assisted the FQA both in reestablishing government and eliminating hostile factions. This would be a slow laborious process as the FQA and Commonwealth Marines fought a long hard battle to take Qaf over the next two decades.

Dissent mounted on the Martian colonies, particularly Bellona. The Commonwealth Marines occupying Bellona, Kienen, and Tezuka mistreated the local Trappist Martians and exacted a high price upon the population through high taxes, neglect, and targeted killings. This led to a dissident movement developing on Bellona (originally) called the Trappist Secret State. The Trappist Secret State, a collective term for underground resistance organizations both military and civilian, spread quickly from Bellona to Kienen and Tezuka. The Secret State encompassed not only military resistance but also civilian structures, such as education, culture and social services. Resistance to the Commonwealth mounted as Martians began to unite against Earther domination. The movement would even eventually spread to Earther colonies such as Akash, Qaf, and Salsabil, but it never had the same presence as it did on Martian colonies.

This cycle of guerrilla war in the Earther colonies and dissent in the Martian colonies settled into a sort of status quo by the 3510s. In that time, a new government was established on Qaf under a presidential dictatorship drawn from the upper echelons of the Free Qafi Army, headed by General Moksud Khondakar. President Khondakar and the new government focused their activities mostly upon combating hostile Qafi factions and the troublesome Trappist Secret State, but they found themselves constrained at every step by Commonwealth authorities, who saw their Qafi counterparts as weak and expendable. Resentment mounted on many levels of the Qafi government, and even the rocky relationship between Admiral Wuhan and President Khondakar led to tension down the line. Commonwealth's forces' urging of the government to take a more hard-line stance only made things more tense.

By the 3520s, the War of the Caliphate had receded to the mountains while the government had reasserted control over most areas of Qaf with the caliph and the Alliance for Democracy still resisting the new government and the Commonwealth. At the same time, the Trappist Secret State continued resistance to the Commonwealth through overt and covert means with Trappist Martian rebels on Tezuka openly revolting and resorting to guerrilla warfare in the planet's many ice mining tunnels.

In 3529, there was a break in relations between the new Qafi government and Commonwealth forces as Khondakar tried to distance himself from collaboration after hearing about the Vermilion War and the First Tranquil War. Word of these losses by the Commonwealth along with years of resentment led to a lasting change with the new Qafi government and Commonwealth having a hostile relationship afterwards. That and the increasingly far-reaching activities of the Trappist Secret State led to a slow but sure escalation of hostilities in the early 3530s.

The situation would take a turn again when President Khondakar got into contact with both the Alliance for Democracy and the Trappist Secret State as it became increasingly clear that Admiral Wuhan was angling for him to be removed. Underground negotiations between the Qafi government, the Alliance for Democracy, and the Trappist Secret State were facilitated by an amoral power broker within the Commonwealth Navy who had a grudge against Admiral Wuhan, something he shared with Khondakar.

Negotiations initially looked bleak as representatives of the Qafi government and the Alliance for Democracy clashed over previous shared enmity from the War of the Caliphate and even before that. The cultural differences between the Qafis and Trappist Martians made the negotiations even more of a chore. However, all sides did eventually manage agree upon a cessation of hostilities and the plan for a general uprising in the next year.

3540 was a landmark year in the war. When Admiral Wuhan made the opening moves to remove Khondakar from power as expected, the Qaf government moved against the Commonwealth forces in cooperation with the Alliance of Democracy for the first time, and the Battle of Qaf was renewed with vigor. This came as a shock to Commonwealth forces, and Commonwealth Marines on Qaf were quickly surrounded on all sides while Commonwealth Navy ships in orbit fell into a brief but intense internal struggle with Qafis eventually wrestling control from Earthers. The Trappist Martian colonies in turn began their own struggle with continued fighting on Tezuka and a massive general revolt occurring on Bellona, the Bellona Uprising. Led by the Trappist Secret State, the uprising was timed with Qaf's uprising with the main objective of driving Commonwealth forces out of Bellona and eventually all other Trappist Martian colonies. This was the culmination of the frustrations of two generations who had lived their lives under occupation while knowing Mars had not fallen, that there was still hope for resistance and justice or revenge for the past forty years under Commonwealth rule.

The twin revolts against the Commonwealth of Earth in 3540 would be bloody but ultimately successful. With the assistance of the former collaborationist Qaf government, Qafis managed to throw off the Commonwealth's control first while also commandeering the Commonwealth Navy fleet in orbit, crippling the Commonwealth's naval capabilities in the Trappist System. Meanwhile, the Bellona Uprising was initially largely suppressed by Commonwealth forces at a bloody cost to the Commonwealth, but Qafis soon enough came to aid their allies through both ground and naval support. This last push broke the Commonwealth's hold on Bellona, and after that, Commonwealth occupations on other planets in the system fell as well. Commonwealth forces in the system largely decided to cut their losses after it became clear Bellona was lost with the remaining Trappist Fleet evacuating most of their personnel from Akash, Kienen, Salsabil, and Tezuka while significant numbers of Commonwealth personnel were left behind on Qaf and Bellona.

After the triumph of 3540, the Trappist colonies briefly mulled over the option of creating a united Trappist State before the idea was rejected mostly due to the Martian colonies wanting to reconnect with Mars. Qaf accepted this, and the Qafi Federation was established after some negotiation among internal factions. After this and some further planning, the Qafi Federation sent representatives to the Solar System alongside representatives of the Trappist Martians, hoping to negotiate peace with the Commonwealth once and for all.

In 3579, the Trappist delegation arrived on Luna to sign a Earth-Trappist Peace Treaty but eventually split the negotiations. Mars’s Trappist colonies had technically been ceded to Earth a century earlier, but the Commonwealth, convinced by Mars and Jupiter of the reality of the situation, renounced its claim to the colonies, leading to their swift reunification with Mars. The newly-formed Qafi Federation on the other hand went into negotiations with the intention to sign a Earth-Qaf Peace Treaty recognizing their independence. The treaty outlined that Earth was to recognise the sovereignty of the Qafi claims in the Trappist System in exchange for continued free passage for commercial vessels. In turn, Qaf recognised the sovereignty of the Commonwealth of Earth's ownership of Mercury, Venus, Ceres, and many Trans-Neptunian objects, as well as their various extrasolar claims, with the same stipulations on commercial vessels in place. Additionally, the Qafi Federation was granted admission into IGSA, along with ascent to the Joint Security Council as its newest member.

Catete Conference (3508)

Back on Earth in the early 3500s, general sentiment surrounding the Commonwealth's various campaigns was still largely positive with the information at hand. The entire Solar System aside from Mars bent the knee to Earth, several exoplanetary systems submitted to the Commonwealth's rule, and the wars against Zhu Que and Tranquility were still unresolved but not lost. However, there were many unresolved questions at the time for the Commonwealth that begged to be resolved. Among these questions included how the Commonwealth would hold on to these new territories, how could Neuordnung Solar be properly imposed upon the Solar System including Mars, and what would the Commonwealth do with all the prisoners of war taken during the wars? The question of what to with the various prisoners of war had especially become pressing as boatloads of Edenites, Tranquilans, Devanans, Proudhones, and other dissidents were being brought back to the Solar System to be held so as not to trouble their home systems with their discontent. However, the Commonwealth did not want to hold these prisoners of war in their home system and instead wanted to hold them somewhere else. So, Secretary General Keyon Parvaneh decided to call together a meeting of senior government officials of the Commonwealth of Earth and military leaders to ensure the cooperation of administrative leaders of various government departments in the implementation of Neuordnung Solar and other policies to the betterment of Earth. The conference was to be held in Novo Brasil, specifically a historic building known as the Catete Palace. Other notable figures at the Catete Conference besides the Secretary General included General Konstantin Vagin, General Chrystian Kaczmarski, and Admiral Gordon Trank.

On January 20th, 3508, the venue for the conference was opened to the attendees who would be there for the next two days. In preparation for the conference, Admiral Trank drafted a list of the numbers of the human population throughout known space. Populations were listed in two groups, "A" and "B". "A" populations were those under direct Commonwealth control or occupation (or partially occupied and quiescent, in the case of Ross 128 b) or client states; "B" populations were in currently neutral states or at war with Earth.

Parvaneh opened the conference with an account of the measures taken by the Commonwealth of Earth to achieve its goals since Earther seizure of power in 3460. He said that between 3460 and January 3508, it was estimated that roughly seven billion people had been brought under the Commonwealth sphere of influence with the most notable examples being the populations of Jupiter, Saturn, and Nova.

Parvaneh reported that there were approximately forty billion people in the whole of known space, of whom nearly half were in states or interstellar zones not yet under Earther control, most notably Mars, Zhu Que, and Tranquility. He further explained that securing Zhu Que and Tranquility in the immediate future would be key to further isolating Mars from any potential allies in anticipation of a second war to take Mars, the Commonwealth's final barrier to imposing Neuordnung Solar upon the Solar System and indeed all known space. At the conference, Neuordnung Solar was again reevaluated with the Commonwealth's plans for Mars (and Martians) under its future rule being the main focus of the latter half of first day.

In the years since the Martian War of Independence, Martians had diverged further and further from wider humanity in regards to both their "deformed" bodies and their government's status as an AI-aided social-technocratic bureaucracy. Parvaneh stated that if peace in the Solar System under Neuordnung Solar was to be achieved, the Martians would have be removed from the equation so that Mars could resettled by those loyal to the Commonwealth. The conference attendees agreed with him almost in unison. He outlined a range of possible solutions to this problem. The first solution given was massive population transfers out of the Solar System to locales hospitable to Martians but very far away such as the Trappist colonies, the stations of Tranquility, and Eden. This posed a larger logistical problem for the Commonwealth but would be the most bloodless solution. The second solution given was the wholesale extermination of the Martian population through the planetwide use of nerve gas attacks. This solution was seen as the most bloody and least optical, but the Commonwealth officials considered it the quickest and most efficient method of readying Mars for resettlement. The third solution, the brainchild of Admiral Trank, given was the population transfer of Martians from Mars to specifically prepared facilities in outlying systems such as 55 Cancri, Cervantes, and 82 G. Eridani for "holding", a euphemism for forced labor and eventual extermination. Models of these facilities were shown to the conference attendees, and Admiral Trank stepped up to speak on how these facilities would first be used to house prisoners of war and dissidents from the initial successes of the Commonwealth Wars. Trank's plans interested the conference attendees greatly, as it involved a largely surgical and "clean" way of dispatching the hostile Martian population. The fourth and last solution presented was a mix of the first and third options, with the majority of the Martian population being resettled in Commonwealth-occupied space while the more "troublesome" and "excessive" Martians were sent to the facilities in outlying systems for liquidation. This portion of the conference would end without a firm resolution but with the attendees leaning towards the third solution.

“	Under proper guidance, in the course of my plan the Martians are to be allocated for appropriate labor in outlying systems. Able-bodied Martians will be taken in immense work groups to these systems for work on development, in the course of which action a large portion will be eliminated by natural causes. The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated accordingly, because it is the product of natural selection and would, if released, act as the seed of further Martian resistance.	”
–Gordon Trank

The second day of the Catete Conference was more focused upon how to deal with the Commonwealth's newly conquered worlds and the various POWs and dissidents under Commonwealth control. Plans were drawn up for setting up proper occupation governments on Eden, Proudhon, and Tranquility while the attendees differed on whether it would be best to create an occupation government for Zhu Que or a client state akin to Nova. They finally decided upon leaving Zhu Que as a client state so as to free up resources to deal with Mars. Finally, the question of POWs and dissidents came up, and Admiral Trank presented his planned facilities as the best option for dealing with the prisoners on the whole. With no other concrete suggestions present, the admiral quickly won over the rest of the attendees and the conference would end with Trank having largely achieved his goals, to the chagrin of the Secretary General who felt slighted by Trank's perceived "hijacking" of the conference to push his own agenda. Admiral Trank was unable to benefit much from his success however since he was put in command of the Gliese 832 Fleet and (indirectly) the Erpublik Nova Navy Solar Fleet in a second effort to take Tranquility. Nevertheless, Trank's solution to the question of what to do with the Commonwealth's prisoners would be the one utilized and his plans for the Martians would be accepted by the brass as solid right until word came of Zhu Que's victory during Luyten's War.

Although much of what was discussed at the Catete Conference was never put into practice (largely because Zhu Que's continued survival), it had long-lasting ramifications nonetheless. In the years after the conference, the Commonwealth sent exploration fleets of ships to 55 Cancri and Cervantes to assess their viability for the planned facilities with the exploration fleet bound for the 82 G. Eridani System leaving later later in 3546. Cervantes, judged to potentially be the most viable system, was sent with the vast majority of POWs and dissidents. In anticipation of their final war with Mars (but before news came in from Zhu Que), the Commonwealth would ramp up its dehumanization of Martians to new levels. This had long-lasting effects that are still felt even today. Also, the occupation governments of Eden, Proudhon, and Tranquility were all modeled after the plans drawn up at Catete.

The exact proceedings of the Catete Conference are not widely known outside the precepts of the Commonwealth government, even today, and the Commonwealth has done a good job keeping a lid on what actually was discussed at the conference, as the implications would be dire if it ever got out. Even within the Commonwealth government, few truly knew the darker implications of Neuordnung Solar, and even fewer know today. However, vague details of the Catete Conference are known by the larger public such as the plans for population transfers and the creation of occupation governments, and there are many conspiracy theories in the current day about what exactly went on at Catete. The Commonwealth would rather things stay that way, vague and rather unassuming to the outside observers.

Second Tranquil War (3524-3550)

Sixteen years after their defeat in the First Tranquil War, the Commonwealth Navy sent another, larger fleet led by Admiral Gordon Trank along with the Novian Erpublik Nova Navy Solar Fleet to pacify the Gliese 832 System in 3508, and the State of Tranquility was once again put to the test.

Admiral Trank pursued a different strategy than his predecessor, and he moved to directly attack Tranquility with his full force. The admiral, commanding the Gliese 832 Fleet and the Erpublik Nova Navy Solar Fleet, was met by the Tranquility Fleet, this time led by Admiral Sanjay Sengupta due to Aegus Kimber being arrested for political reasons. The Second Battle of Tranquility played out differently than the first with Admiral Trank managing to bait the Tranquility Fleet out of the range of their own defenses, nullifying Tranquility's largest strength. The battle led to the near destruction of the Tranquility Fleet and heavy casualties among the Gliese 832 Fleet and the Erpublik Nova Navy Solar Fleet with Admiral Trank's own death near the end of the battle in a suicide run made by a Tranquilan ship. That made the Gliese 832 Fleet briefly fall into disarray before being reorganised through the efforts of Commonwealth Captain Mariana van Rossem and Novian Admiral Carmine Fleischer. This would lead to the remnants of the Tranquility Fleet being destroyed or captured.

After the Commonwealth's victory, the fleet would immediately push on to attempt to take Sentinel Metro under the temporary leadership of Admiral Fleischer. Targeting Sentinel C, the fleet managed to break through the station's defenses and landed Commonwealth Marines who quickly overwhelmed the Tranquilan Defense Forces there, beginning the Battle of Sentinel Metro. The fleets then attempted to press on to the other stations but were largely unsuccessful, only able to gain footholds on Sentinel D and Sentinel F. With a largely depleted fleet and forces stretched thin, Commonwealth forces on the stations settled in for a war of attrition while the fleets turned their attention to Serenity.

Commonwealth Rear Admiral Robert McPherson, now in overall command, was knowledgeable of the previous Siege of Tranquility, and he was therefore eager to not waste so many resources on securing the gas giant, instead focusing on denying it to the Tranquilans. To achieve this, Rear Admiral McPherson began a protracted bombing campaign of Serenity's stations to destroy as much infrastructure as possible while maintaining a tight blockade around Sentinel Metro. This strategy was largely successful with the resources of Serenity's stations being denied to Tranquility, but it also led to the deaths of millions of Serenitians and a humanitarian crisis.

Meanwhile, the war on Sentinel Metro between Commonwealth forces and Tranquilans was hell. Commonwealth Marines and the Novian Expeditionary Legion, led by Generals Vlatko Jović and Artemis Nguyen respectively, had to fight for every meter of the station with the Tranquilan Defense Forces refusing to fight a simple linear war against the Commonwealth. Cybernetic and biologically enhanced soldiers fought alongside the TDF while cyber warfare harried Commonwealth forces' logistics and operations every step of the way. Even structure of the Tranquilan stations was hostile to the invaders, made up of nonsensical geometries and alienating environments for outsiders. The Tranquilans therefore were able to hold out for years against the Commonwealth, although they were not able to drive out the Commonwealth completely. The Commonwealth Marines managed to take Sentinel F two years after the war's start, and Commonwealth forces pushed on.

Martian advisers and remnants of the Red Star Brigades from Proudhon would arrive in the Gliese 832 System in 3530, and they were surprised to find Tranquility in an increasingly desperate situation. Sentinel C, Sentinel D, Sentinel F, and the Tranquility Launch Arco had all fallen to the Commonwealth in the six years since the arrival of the Gliese 832 Fleet, and both sides were becoming increasingly brutal in their treatment of the enemy. This brutality extended to the Tranquilans habit of depressurizing various parts of stations under Commonwealth control and their execution of prisoners while the Commonwealth continued with its continued bombings of Serenity's stations and was known for its rampant mistreatment of Tranquilans under its control, using death squads and other forms of suppression to maintain their hold on the stations. The reinforcements for the Tranquilans from the Solar System went to both the Sentinel Metro and Serenity's stations , helping where they were needed.

Without naval support and against a determined relentless enemy, the Tranquilan war effort eroded slowly over the next two decades. Sentinel E fell to Commonwealth forces in 3533, and Serenity's stations would surrender to end the bombings in 3540. From there, Commonwealth Marines and the Novian Expeditionary Legion focused all their efforts on Sentinel A and Sentinel B, further tightening the blockade and ensuring further scarcity of resources for the Tranquilans still fighting against them. The grimness of the situation was further hammered in when former admiral Aegus Kimber died imprisoned by his own government in 3541, either due to intentional starvation or pure ineptitude by the prison. Tranquilans paid homage to their hero on the battlefield in defiance of their government while still fighting against the Commonwealth to honor his memory.

Commonwealth reinforcements would stream into the system in the 3540s, and with no help on the horizon, Tranquilans began to slowly lose hope. The fall of Sentinel A in 3544 would be death knell of Tranquility with the next six years being a drawn out siege of Sentinel B with the remaining TDF, Martian advisers, and Red Star Brigades all cooped up in the station.

The State of Tranquility fell in 3550 with the final surrender of Sentinel B to Commonwealth forces. That began an extended occupation of the Gliese 832 System by Commonwealth forces, and the Tranquilans accepted these occupiers with gritted teeth. The capture of the Martian advisers and last of the Red Star Brigades was a huge embarrassment by Mars, but the advisers were eventually handed back over to Mars. The return of the Gliese 832 Fleet to the Solar System in 3566 was hailed as a great victory by the Commonwealth of Earth in the aftermath of defeat in Luyten's War, and Tranquility is often touted as Earth's greatest military victory during the Commonwealth Wars.

55 Cancri System (3554)

Out of three systems suggested to house the facilities discussed at the Catete Conference, the 55 Cancri System was just judged to be the most viable system based upon prior data collected by probes. With that knowledge in mind, the 55 Cancri Exploration Fleet was sent assess the system. The fleet arrived around 3554, and it found the system inhabited by a few corporate stations and corporate bases set up in the system earlier in the Commonwealth Wars. The 55 Cancri Exploration Fleet spent the next year setting up research posts throughout the system. After these initial efforts, it was determined that 55 Cancri would not house any future facilities due the preexisting corporate presence, and the 55 Cancri Exploration Fleet returned to the Solar System.

Cervantes System (3565)

The Cervantes Exploration Fleet headed by Commodore Uchechee Chinou would finally arrive in the Cervantes System around 3565, approximately fifty years after leaving the Solar System. Before their arrival, probes had already arrived and assessed the system with its gas giants Quijote and Sancho both possessing moons fit for some level of habitation. The Commonwealth battle group confirmed the findings of the probes, and it would spend the next year setting up research posts on the moons of Quijote as well as setting the groundwork facilities to house POWs and dissidents sent there.

Quijote was the main focus as it orbited within the habitable zone of its planetary system, and it had several moons with the largest, Alonso, exceeding Earth's own Luna in size. The Commonwealth would employ methods used from the colonization of Ceres to tunnel into Alonso and create living space for their various POWs and dissidents. While work was still being done, the Cervantes Exploration Fleet would depart for Earth only to find the Commonwealth Wars long over.

82 G. Eridani War (3566)

The closest of three systems suggested to house the facilities discussed at the Catete Conference, the 82 G. Eridani System was a suspected pirate nest and thusly avoided by most. The 82 G. Eridani Exploration Fleet was assigned to secure the system, establish facilities, and send back their findings to Earth. They would be proof of concept for the Catete Conference as the 82 G. Eridani System was the closest of three systems discussed to the Solar System.

The 82 G. Eridani Exploration Fleet arrived in the 82 G. Eridani System around 3565, and the Commonwealth battle group found a system infested by pirates, the 82 Fleet. The 82 Fleet, headed by Captain Alex "Platehead" Yardman, had held effective control over the ungoverned system for the last century after wrestling it from the few miners and corporations there before, and the pirates were very surprised by the appearance of the Commonwealth, with two pirate ships mistakenly attempting to ambush the fleet as it entered the system. These pirates were quickly obliterated, and the Commonwealth's presence soon became obvious to the rest of the 82 Fleet. With the threat clear, the 82 Fleet would mass at Von Braun Station to meet the coming threat.

However, Captain Yardman and a few other pirates did attempt to negotiate with the Commonwealth prior to any battle, as they knew the unequal odds facing them. The captains first offered to hand over Eisenhower, Gagarin, and Von Braun stations as various other pirate bases in exchange for full amnesty and transportation to either Zhu Que or Mars. The leader of the 82 G. Eridani Exploration Fleet, Admiral Hori Iyona, refused these terms as she did not want to be the one to grant pirates full amnesty for their many crimes even if they were willing to handing over all their territory for it. From there, the captains even dropped their insistence upon leaving the system and just wanted amnesty but were still refused. The admiral instead demanded unconditional surrender, which was refused. The 82 G. Eridani Exploration Fleet moved on Von Braun with the end of these negotiations.

The Battle of Von Braun between the 82 G. Eridani Exploration Fleet and the 82 Fleet ensued. It proved to be a lopsided battle, but the pirates of the 82 Fleet put up an admirable fight against the Commonwealth, costing many lives including Captain Yardman's and several ships. Ultimately though, the 82 G. Eridani Exploration Fleet would emerge victorious with only a few pirate ships escaping. From there, the fleet moved on to land Commonwealth Marines on Von Braun and take the station by force. Some pirates continued to resist, but most on Von Braun surrendered immediately upon Commonwealth Marines entering the station. After that, the 82 G. Eridani Exploration Fleet set about seizing the rest of the system from the 82 Fleet.

The campaign to take the rest of the system took a couple more months with Eisenhower and Gagarin falling bloodlessly within two months of the Battle of Von Braun. The pirate bases in the far reaches of the system held out a little longer. Admiral Iyona asked for unconditional surrender, something the remaining 82 Fleet was unwilling to accept. So, the fleet spent much of 3566 clearing out the last of the pirate bases, ending the 82 Fleet.

These battles were the last of the Commonwealth Wars, but the 82 G. Eridani Exploration Fleet had no knowledge of that, instead setting about with their original mission. The system was largely judged to be uninhabitable due to the extremely high temperatures of the planets and their satellites, and it was judged only to be valuable for its gas giant. Admiral Iyona and the majority of the 82 G. Eridani Exploration Fleet returned to the Solar System, arriving back in 3586, seven years after the Earth-Qaf Peace Treaty.

Aftermath

After the end of the Commonwealth Wars, the Commonwealth of Earth stood as the most powerful entity in known space, usurping the privileged position once held by the IGSA. The Commonwealth's military, outnumbered but versatile, triumphed over the majority of its enemies in various campaigns, and it remained strong and in power after the Commonwealth Wars. It almost seemed as if the Earth chauvinists had been vindicated in their arguments, that Earth deserved to be the first among all planets.

However, the Commonwealth had not come out of the Commonwealth Wars all-powerful. The Martian Federation, the Zhu Que Directorate, and the Trappist System had all successfully resisted the Commonwealth's campaigns against them, and by 3550, the Commonwealth had effectively exhausted its offensive capabilities and looked instead to consolidate its conquests. The failure to mount a second invasion of Mars was especially felt by Commonwealth command, who had made the hypothetical invasion the cornerstone of their future strategy of interstellar domination. However, that proved impossible after loss of Luyten's War and mounting logistical costs across the board. At the same time, the Commonwealth's grip on its Outer Planet client states would also weaken as Saturn and Jupiter became increasingly alienated from the Commonwealth Wars. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth also had to deal with concurrent rebellions on Eden and Proudhon as well as a brewing situation at home on Earth with the rise of political radicalism among the "undocumented".

The IGSA began the Commonwealth Wars as a crumbling interstellar institution with little to no credibility but ended the war on slightly firmer ground as the facilitators of diplomacy between fractious celestial states, particularly during the Earth-Zhu Que Peace Treaty. The Commonwealth of Earth still had no real respect for IGSA law, seeing the organization as a tool of the Zhu Que Directorate and hostile Jovian elements and disregarding its supposedly discredited authority. However, the IGSA would become a respected institution once again in time, and it eventually brought about a transition away from Earth hegemony after a century or so.

Impact

Casualties and war crimes

In total casualties, the Commonwealth Wars is the second most destructive conflict in human history after the Great Interstellar War. The civilian casualties would far outweigh the military ones, with the Commonwealth having far lower casualty rates than its opponents.

The majority of civilian casualties would be drawn from the campaigns against Mars, Zhu Que, and Tranquility with almost half a billion dead on Mars alone. The successive campaigns against Tranquility and Zhu Que also left hundreds of millions dead or displaced, particularly on the stations of Serenity during the Second Tranquil War. Other numerically smaller but still bloody campaigns would be on Eden and Ross 128 b where the relatively small populations experienced high proportions of casualties. Also, civilian casualties in the Main Belt among Belters numbered in the hundreds of thousands caught in the crossfire between the Commonwealth and Belter pirates, but their story is rarely dwelt upon. Meanwhile, Earther civilian casualties were much lower, by a magnitude of nearly fifty. This was due to the distance of the conflict from Earth with the twenty million total mostly being due to Belter terrorism on Luna and Belter piracy throughout the Solar System.

Military casualties followed a similar trend with the Commonwealth having less, however with a slightly more balanced ratio. Most of the military dead for the Commonwealth came from the successive campaigns against Tranquility and Zhu Que, especially in the disaster of Luyten's War. Meanwhile, the war on Mars would account for nearly half of the Commonwealth's opponents' military dead while the rest were mostly be split among Tranquility, Zhu Que, and Eden.

War crimes would be committed on both sides of the conflict, though the crimes of the Commonwealth of Earth were remembered much more clearly than its enemies'. Particularly, the repeated bombings of civilian targets on the stations of Tranquility were used time and time again as evidence of the Commonwealth's clear disregard for human life and dignity along with the bombardment of Fanrong on Zhu Que and the harsh treatment of Devanans and Belters under Commonwealth control. Other examples of war crimes committed by the Commonwealth include the destruction of FRIEND on Mars, the general use of death squads in Commonwealth-occupied territory, the execution of POWs on Eden, Proudhon, and Ross 128 b, and the general use of torture by the Commonwealth Navy and Commonwealth Marines (especially towards Belters and Martians). The Commonwealth's enemies also committed war crimes but much more infrequently with the most notable examples being the use of a perfidy by Zhu Que during Luyten's War, frequent suicide attacks by the Red Star Brigades during the Battle of Proudhon, instances of mass murder by Belter pirates against Lunar civilians, and the general use of torture by the Martian Federation, the State of Tranquility, and various anti-Commonwealth non-state actors.

Due to their general victory in the Commonwealth Wars, the Commonwealth of Earth largely escaped any punishment for its war crimes immediately after the conflict. In the centuries since, Commonwealth war criminals have met some repercussions for their actions, but there have been no mass trials against Commonwealth personnel, only against individuals. Meanwhile, Belter and Proudhone war criminals were both taken back to Earth for prosecution immediately after or even during the war, with most being imprisoned or executed.

Genocide

Charges of genocide are leveled against the Commonwealth of Earth most commonly by Devanans on Ross 128 b and Belters in the Solar System for their actions during the Commonwealth Wars. This was mostly in response towards the severe resistance by Devanans during the Battle of Ross 128 b and the various acts of terrorism and piracy by Belters in the Solar System.

The treatment of Devanans during the Battle of Ross 128 b mostly involved mass internment and the overwhelming use of force against both the Devana Independence Army and the Devanan civilian population. Commonwealth Marines on Ross 128 b were alleged to have also used death squads, mass executions, mass rape, and the intentional killing of civilians or prisoners. This led to a disproportionate amount of casualties among the Devanans in the thirty years of war on Ross 128 b, and it took generations for the Devanan people to recover while Commonwealth occupiers favored the larger more complacent Rossian population. The Devanans still insist that if the DIA had not surrendered to the Earthers when they did, the Devanan people would have been exterminated. Whether this is true or not is uncertain, and the Devanans' charge of genocide is not well-known outside Ross 128 b.

The persecution of Belters by the Commonwealth of Earth in retribution for the massacre on Luna are much better known, as the crackdown on Belters in 3506 caused several cases of displacement and mass murder in the Main Belt. Although Belters were not interned, they were sometimes wiped out outright, especially in more remote areas of the Main Belt. These massacres became more well-known after the Great Interstellar War, and they have slowly gained more mainstream attention in recent centuries. Instances of mass rape and pillaging against the Belters were also documented on various asteroids and stations. The Belters’ charges of genocide have been met with mild bemusement by most Earthers, who simply retort that Belter pirates and terrorists killed more than ten times as many Lunarians and Earthers in the Luna Raids than any of the Commonwealth’s actions against the Belters. This point, although largely true, has not deterred the Belters in their charges of genocide against Earth.

Occupation

The campaigns by the Commonwealth of Earth necessitated occupations of varied stations, planets, moons, and other planetoids under Commonwealth control. The harshest Commonwealth occupations were on Mars, Ross 128 b, and Tranquility with the occupation of Ross 128 b being the harshest among them while the partial occupation of Mars was the bloodiest by sheer casualties. The occupations on Eden and Proudhon were also rather harsh. These occupied territories were put under military rule and most never had any sort of civilian governance for the next few centuries with Tranquility being a notable exception. These occupations would eventually be scaled down as the Commonwealth shifted its attention back to the Solar System.

Home fronts and production

After February 8th, 3460, the Commonwealth of Earth began its campaign to subjugate known space, and everyday life across the planet was dramatically altered. Food, fuel, and clothing were rationed across the arcologies, and the Luna shipyards radically increased in population to keep up with ship production. To help build the armaments necessary to win the war, even the undocumented found employment in defense plants and shipyards. Earthers grew increasingly dependent on propaganda outlets for news of the fighting across the interstellar medium. And, while popular entertainment served to demonize the state's enemies, particularly Mars, it also was viewed as an escapist outlet that allowed Earthers brief respites from war worries. The threat of Belter terrorism and piracy became a very real threat to Earthers in the early thirty-sixth century after the two bloody attacks on Luna. The Commonwealth remained in a near constant state of war until 3550, when rationing on Earth finally ended and normalcy returned in a sense.

On planets targeted by the Commonwealth, the situation was even more intense as they were on the defensive. The home fronts of Mars, Tranquility, and Zhu Que were especially damaged by the war with the devastation on Mars being magnified by the loss of FRIEND. All three powers effectively remained in a state of war throughout the Commonwealth Wars either until the Commonwealth signed a peace treaty with them (Zhu Que) or they surrendered (Tranquility). Mars remained at a state of readiness throughout the Commonwealth Wars in anticipation of a second invasion, but none ever came due to changing circumstances.

Advances in technology and warfare

There were various technological advances made during the Commonwealth Wars on both sides over nearly a century of war. The largest technological strides were rather mundane advances by the Commonwealth of Earth in boosting production and bettering already existing military technology. Also, the Commonwealth frequently upgraded its power armor and maintained a superior model throughout the Commonwealth Wars. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth’s enemies also made advancements with the most notable being various the Hammerhead-class ship created by Tranquility and the mechanical battle suits created (and soon afterwards retired) by Mars.