Radiance War

The Radiance War, also called "Domino War" was an interstellar conflict in which the Skolian Imperialate and the Eubian Concord annihilated much of each other, in the Saga of the Skolian empire books by Catherine Asaro.

Background

Since the founding of Skolian Empire the Skolians were an eyesore for the Aristo rulers of Eubian Concord, whose belligerence and expansionism was a big threat for their neighbours. Attempts to conquer Skolia failed however due to the Skolian psiberweb, which enabled Skolians a faster-than-light communication and gave their military an advantage in fight with the ships of Eubian ESComm.

Through the centuries many conflicts between the two interstellar empires arose, yet none of them changed into a regular war. The third civilization, the Allieds, didn‘t participate in these skirmishes, behaving strictly neutral.

The last major Eubian attack (which happened about 50 years prior to Radiance War) was an assault on main Skolian worlds Parthonia and Metropoli, combined with an unsuccessful assassination attempt on the Skolian Imperator Kurj Skolia.

Process

Escalation

In 2274 ESComm succeeded in capturing the Skolian prince Althor Valdoria, second-in-command of ISC. The following attempt to also capture Imperator Kurj Skolia failed with Kurj committing suicide, killing both himself and his opponent, the Eubian Emperor Ur Qox. In the Skolian Empire, Sauscony Valdoria returned from exile and replaced her half-brother Kurj as Imperator. The Eubian emperor's heir (and Sauscony's secret consort in exile) Jaibriol Qox II was recovered and used as a puppet ruler by the emperor's widow Viquara Iquar and her new husband Kryx Quaelen. Leaders on both sides started making new war plans immediately, Sauscony privately plotting to use her power as Imperator to get Jaibriol back.

The Radiance Fleet

A military project with the codename Radiance was started by orders of Sauscony Valdoria to invent a new method of shielding ships from detection by the enemy, using Klein bottles to hide ships inside. In 2276 the project was still in the testing phase when circumstances occurred that enforced an immediate application.

Sauscony gathered a substantial part of the ISC creating the 800 000 ships strong so-called Radiance Fleet (10% of ships being manned with human crews, the rest piloted by EIs). Under the command of Rear Admiral Chad Barzun and the Imperator herself the fleet set off to Eube to conquer Eubian capital Glory, cripple ESComm and rescue Althor Valdoria. Unbeknownst to everyone, Sauscony was planing to rescue her secretly married husband Jaibriol II as well.

Battle of Onyx platform

Due to similar plans on Eubian side, simultaneously to this over 2 000 000 ESComm ships attacked the most important Skolian military complex, the Onyx platform. Eubians wanted to seize the here located Third Lock, a crucial device for Skolian faster-than-light communication network, the psiberweb. With the Radiance Fleet on the way to Eube Imperator Sauscony had to choose from two possibilities: turn the fleet back to Onyx or continue to Glory. After receiving the news that psiberweb is overloaded and collapsing, Sauscony choose the latter, to win the war rather than just one battle.

On Onyx, knowing they were overwhelmed, platform commander Admiral Starjack Tahota succeeded in evacuating most of the 2,2 billion staff, leaving 400 000 volunteers who stayed to enable escape of the evacuation fleet and sabotage the Eubians. After ESComm succeeds in capturing the Lock, Tahota ordered to invert the defensive ships' Klein bottles, which hold their anti-matter fuel, creating a massive explosion that destroyed both Onyx and the entire ESComm fleet.

Battle of Platinum sector

As the majority of Eubian military was dislocated to Onyx, the defense of many Eubian bases was lessened. Therefore the Radiance Fleet encountered "just" a fleet of 600 000 ESComm ships while processing through Eubian Platinum sector to Glory. After a short but hard battle, Eubian ships capitulated, their number decreased to 85 000. Skolian fleet lost about 200 000 ships in this conflict but with the Platinum sector in their hands, the way to Glory was free.

Attack upon Orbiter

Shortly after the assault on Onyx, ESComm started a raid on the Skolian space habitat Orbiter using the stolen Third Lock to locate the position of Orbiter, where the Second Lock was placed. Their main intention was to capture leaders of Skolian Empire – First Councilor Barcala Tikal and Pharaoh Dyhianna Selei with her husband Eldrin and son Taquinil.

During the Eubian attack Eldrin was captured by ESComm, while Dyhianna and her son Taquinil jumped into the Lock to escape from their enemies and were believed to be dead. This was the final blow for the already overloaded Skolian psiberweb - the entire web in psiberspace collapsed, affecting and practically destroying equally Skolian, Eubian and Allied communication systems.

Invasion of Glory

After arrival in the star system of Glory, the Radiance Fleet destroyed the planet's orbital defense systems and was bombing the planet. A team of Jagernauts lead by Imperator herself went to emperor's palace and succeed in rescuing Althor and "capturing" Jaibriol II but their ship exploded before reaching orbit, hit by enemy fire (at least it seemed so). Radiance Fleet left the system with about 70 000 ships heading back home.

Aftermath

After the war both Eubians and Skolians were critically weakened and a power vacuum arose. Governments of both empires were in ruins and their military suffered from enormous losses. The Allieds took advantage of this and expanded significantly.

Without the control of ESComm, thousands of Eubian slaves fled from Eubian territory and many Eubian planets were liberated. With the apparent death of Jaibriol II the Eubian Empire was left heirless, with both Empress Viquara and Kryx Quaelen being killed during the bombing of Glory. The sudden emergence of the deceased emperor's unknown young son Jaibriol III was the start of a new era for Eube, as the new emperor soon initiated peace talks with Skolians, ending with a peace treaty.

Skolian ruling family, the Ruby Dynasty was highly affected by the war. Several family members were presumed dead, such as Pharaoh Dyhianna (who later turned up again). Others such as Pharaoh's sister Roca Skolia with her husband Eldrinson Valdoria and their children were held captive by the Allieds, who originally agreed to protect them according to a Skolian-Allied treaty. Dyhianna's husband Eldrin was captured by the Eubians but released in a trade for the emperor-to-be, Jaibriol III. Sauscony Valdoria survived, actually faking the ship's explosion, and went into hiding to start a new life on the planet Prizma together with her brother, husband and children and a group of Jagernaut volunteers.

Place in the series

The war takes places in the middle of the series in the novel The Radiant Seas, with different novels occurring before or after the Radiance War. Novels that describe the aftermath of the Radiance War are Ascendant Sun, Spherical Harmonic, The Quantum Rose and The Moon's Shadow.