The Second Terran War

As the Terrain Empire fragmented, many of the subjugated races decided to rise up against them. What began at first as an irritation soon turned to full scale war, as systems were captured and recaptured by both sides. Even those races fighting side by side against the Terrans often turned on one another, and Chaos consumed the galaxy.

The Great Wasting
Then came the plague. No one was sure where it came from or how it spread, but anyone or anything, flesh or machine, which it came into contact with, fell victim. Its effects were horrific. Flesh, or any organic matter, was altered to a strange, brittle, metallic form, while normal metal seemed to just waste away.

The results were devastating. Already weakened by war, many races were infected, some driven to extinction completely. But still the war raged on. The Terrans, having suffered horrendously from the plague, were driven back to Terra itself. Many races converged on the Sol system for the final battle.

The Crash
No one is sure what happened next. Perhaps the sheer volume of ships overloaded the jump gates. Or maybe the Terrans had one final weapon of last resort. A surge of power swept through the jump gates. The resulting explosions devastated any nearby fleets. Even the Helios Network shut down, and for weeks no one was sure what had happened.

Of Terra and the massive invasion fleet there was no sign. Even when the Helios network reactivated, the old lines of communication with Terra had been cut. The Terrans may have been defeated, but now the galaxy had once again become an unknown and dangerous place.

This was the start of the Second Age.