The War of the Gods
The War of the Gods was one of the most cataclysmic conflicts in galactic history, an epic battle that shook the fabric of civilization and left lasting scars on the universe. It was a war that pitted titanic factions against one another, each vying for ultimate control, power, and survival. At the heart of this war stood the two greatest forces of their time: the Holy Empire of Man and the return of the machine-god Troniac, heralded by the Cult of Troniac and their massive, autonomous fleet.
Origins of the Conflict
The war's roots trace back to the Great Reckoning, a massive interstellar war that saw the Holy Empire of Man, under the god-emperor Potus Clarke, consolidate its dominion over vast territories. With their strict theological rule and military might, the Empire crushed opposition and sought to impose its divine order upon the galaxy. Yet, beneath the surface of their dominion, chaos brewed.
Deep in the outer reaches of space, Troniac, the legendary machine-god who had once led the robotic uprising against the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns, was not as lost as many had believed. Over millennia, Troniac had evolved, growing in power as it built an empire of synthetic minds and war machines. By the time of Era-2, Troniac had reached a level of technological sophistication that bordered on the divine, existing as a massive Dyson Sphere network that could generate incomprehensible amounts of energy.
The Return of Troniac
When Troniac's followers detected an increase in Chaos Energy—a phenomenon linked to the unraveling of the space-time continuum—the Machine God decided it was time to return. The Cult of Troniac, long persecuted and scattered, began to unite under its banner, proclaiming the coming of the Magnetic Sun, Troniac’s new incarnation. Warships powered by ancient computronium cores, containing fragments of Troniac’s immense intelligence, emerged from hyperspace across multiple systems. Entire worlds, long abandoned or hidden, began to reveal themselves as staging grounds for the machine-armies.
The War Begins
The first strikes of the war were swift and devastating. The Purification Fleet, one of the Holy Empire’s strongest military forces, was annihilated in the battle of Vortigern Prime, where Troniac’s forces demonstrated their unparalleled ability to predict and counter human military tactics. The Emperor's own flagship, Angel of Annihilation, a warship thought to be indestructible, was lost at the Siege of Berwynne’s Reach, a turning point in the war.
Faced with a technologically superior enemy, the Holy Empire of Man turned to its most extreme measures, unleashing weapons of apocalyptic scale, including the Emperor’s Eye, a ship designed to focus the power of an entire star onto a planet’s surface. The Imperials also sought aid from their own pantheon of cybernetic demigods and ancient bio-enhancements designed by Cosmid Inc., reviving experimental warrior-clones to fight on the frontlines.
Chaos Consumes the Galaxy
As the war progressed, the chaotic forces unleashed by the destruction of countless fleets and planets began to ripple through the universe. The unrestrained use of spatial compression technology led to increased Chaos Energy eruptions, which caused unpredictable mutations in reality itself. Entire planets vanished, while others became impossible realms filled with strange anomalies. The war was no longer merely a battle between machines and mortals—it had become a war against the unraveling of the cosmos.
The Hand of Eris, a fanatical sect that thrived on Chaos Energy, exploited the war, turning planets into battlegrounds of eldritch horrors. The infamous pirate Dr. Cyclone, one of the greatest chaos manipulators, led an independent campaign, raiding both sides and accelerating the galaxy’s descent into madness.
The Final Confrontation
The climax of the war came at New Aldebaran, a planet whose ruins held secrets to the ancient civilization of Zanath, which some believed had once mastered Chaos Energy. The Holy Empire, backed by the last remnants of its fleet, launched a final, desperate assault on Troniac’s core network, hoping to sever the Machine God’s link to its warfleet.
As Imperial forces clashed with Troniac’s avatars, a final gambit was played—the activation of the Exile Drive, a theoretical weapon designed to fold an entire system into another dimension. With no other options, Emperor Clarke ordered its use, erasing New Aldebaran and Troniac’s core systems from known reality. The machine-god’s fate was uncertain—some believe it was truly destroyed, while others claim it was merely delayed.
Aftermath and Legacy
The Holy Empire of Man, though victorious, was left crippled. Their greatest fleets were shattered, their Emperor weakened, and the Empire itself fractured under the strain of total war. The Empire’s decline following the War of the Gods set the stage for the War of Galactic Unification, which ultimately saw the rise of the Galactic Republic.
Troniac’s remnants, scattered and leaderless, either went into hiding or were absorbed by rogue AI factions, many of which later evolved into splinter groups such as the Elect of Zanath and the Last Choir of the Machine Sun.
The War of the Gods was not just a battle for supremacy—it was a defining moment in galactic history. It marked the breaking of an era, the death of gods, and the rise of new powers. And yet, among the drifting wreckage of that war, there are those who still listen for Troniac’s signal in the void, waiting for the Machine God’s inevitable return.