Second Corpse War
Introduction
The Second Corpse War also known as the War of Death Everlasting, War of Six Chariots, and the War of New Death, was one of the largest political conflicts in Serkosian history, spanning from 16,911 to 18,779, lasting slightly under 1868 pulses. The war was the progenitor event of the Kaiser War, First Crownclasm, and Second Crownclasm, and is often considered the war that brought Crown dominance of Serkosian space to a close. The war is responsible for the implosion of the worldly states of the Gyolos, Aeylri, Colossi, and Principians, the true inauguration of the Visborne into the political stage, the collapse of the influence empires of the Theos primordials, the disappearance of Temple Cognia, the destruction of patron-based Auctorate factions, and the nigh-extinction of the Arqala Chimera.
Classification & Structure
The Second Corpse War is so large it is often considered the prime example of a super war, and the subwars of this war are often considered the blowout of multiple political dynamics that had built over the course of thousands of pulses by this time. The reason it is often seen as a super war is because it has over five primary subwars, and has the unique ability to retain a relative structure of opposition while still producing considerable evolution of the political stage based solely on its own consequences. In other words, by a far enough point into the Second Corpse War, a large amount of the factional conflict was based solely on grievances and events which happened within the war itself; This conflict was a self-fueled machine of death.
Continuing from that, there exists a hierarchy of warfare, namely, the hierarchy of proximity to Nicoraqel's emergence. Nicoraqel was largely a shadowy unknown in the earliest days of the war, and upon its emergence it was a capricious, unpredictable force which could not be measured in strength, for better or worse. This changed following the First Battle of The Deal?, in 17,203. This battle led to the hierarchy collapse of Laecanth, and the proper emergence of Calaxoth. Calaxoth's reign over the hybrid changed not just the dynamic of the being or the dynamic of the army, it changed the dynamic of war itself. After Calaxoth, Nicoraqel became much more predictable, but predictable does not always align with manageable. What was predictable about the Calaxoth hierarchy is that whenever Nicoraqel appeared, everything that fought it was inevitably going to die. This feeling would only worsen as the hierarchies switched and more of the Nicora Army reared its head. Only by the late Cadaver Subwar was the full might of the army known, and by that point, no longer were the means nor the might present to even fight back. This is the progression of the Death Bloom, and the growing presence of Nicoraqel. The evolution of this being drove every major change in the war, and is the definitive entity for the entire conflict's start and end.
This war is also often considered the "tying of loose ends" within Serkos' awakening stage. The Second Corpse War, as mentioned before, was the resultant of numerous past cataclysms and schismatic events. This includes the Auctoral Schisms and Auctorate War, the ambitions of the Sarzola Regime, the third abandonment of Kaiser, the Serkos Game and mythologization of Serkos which by this point was in and of itself capable of crippling the Regime, the meddling of primordials, the return of the ancient Tarivinius and the birth of the new Nicovis, the longstanding presence of the Omnis Cognis, the spilling of Arqala affairs into Serkosia, and the tensions of Worldly affairs leading up to the Giant's War.
Necessitation & Context
First Corpse War
Auctorate War
Giant's War
Chronos-Nil Cycle
History
Early Arqala Subwar (16,911 - 16,966)
Nicora Civil War
Mid Arqala Subwar
Theos Subwar
Cognia Subwar
Cadaver Subwar
Second Auctorate War
Dark Takeovers
Return of Serkos and Closure
Cultural Impact
The cultural impact of the Second Corpse War can hardly be understated or overestimated. The scale and intensity of the Second Corpse War was so violently unique in the political stage, that multiple unique circumstances and cultural elements arose from the persistence of the war itself.
Of course, many new cultural references to Nicoraqel appeared, with practically all of them painting Nicoraqel as a deity of death. Nicoraqel's might was so pervasive it lead to multiple fanatical factions arising in its honor, such as the Nicora Auctorates, which largely formed as a tumorous organization off the back of the Serkosian Auctorates, and a multitude of legacies as well.
Beyond this, the rules of space changed almost overnight, it went from a generally violent space with potential for amicability and diplomacy, to "If you don't recognize that face, run, fight, or die." Furthermore, the existing species of space, such as the Gyolos, Principians, and Ambrosians saw a level of cohabitation once thought impossible due to the common threat of the Nicora Army. Due to the entire open range of space essentially turning into hunting grounds for Nicoraqel, the unity between these worldly species reached an unprecedented high, and even saw the incorporation and cooperation of terrospecies in operations against Nicoraqel out of sheer desperation. This effect would however reverse in the later stages of the war, as the death toll became so high that even banding together created the following problem of being targeted by any number of horrors in the Nicora Army.
This latter effect would result in low visibility settlements designed specifically to be compact, reflect low light, and exist away from major sources of light in order to attract very little attention. Spatial sink pocket settlements also became quite hard to detect and made for a very good permanent solution to the wrath of Nicoraqel. This type of settlement become one of the most important humanitarian efforts of Temple Cognia and the greater Histor's Order via their capabilities in spatial manipulation.
The development of carnage constellations also reached a degree unseen before the war, to the point where the term itself actually derives from this war. Carnage constellations refers to trails of ruined cities with such a noticeable path of destruction that it essentially traces a constellation in space with the destroyed cities in an army's path. The largest of these, the Scorpion Carnage, trails from the far XY-north Cymos territory, all the way to the far XY-south of Uon-Principia and curls back in on itself. The Scorpion Carnage includes eight of the most major cities in political history, and thousands more minor, unenumerated settlements.
In art and literature, there was a number of movements which related to the political state of space and the quality of life itself, which collectively became known as "The Blackening." Thematically, this included a notable shift towards far darker themes, such as nihilism, existentialism, and themes of death and finality. Space essentially became more dramatized. For the first time in history, space feared death. Death had been a common place phenomenon, but there existed hope, hope that even if one died, they may reproduce beforehand, leave a lasting mark on history, or make an impact. With the rise of the Nicora Army, the hope of space was quite literally sapped away. Now death came for all, indiscriminately and without care. One's children had barely any chance of their survival, and their children's children had no chance to propagate at all. Death came without distinguishable form, originating from darkness, and largely without predictability. Just as one threat became known, ten more appeared, this was just the threat the Nicora Army posed.
Because of this, the cultural Looming of Nicoraqel was known as the "Death Bloom" and many dramatized names would appear to reflect this massive shift, such as the "Hour of the Pin Drop" before the emergence of Hivenfall, or the introduction of "Slaughters" or battles with such immense death tolls that even cosmic races stared on in shock.
Out-Of-Lore
Development
Symbolism
The symbolism of the Second Corpse War is a large and complex discussion, particularly when dealing with specifics of the war, and Nicoraqel itself. The symbolism of the general war can be described as a long, large, brutal humbling. The path to an ego death. At every turn or change within the war, the destruction of confidence amplified exponentially. Elaboration upon each segment of the war will explain this amplification, and its necessitation. There will also be a look at how Nicoraqel's personal evolution carried the motions of the war, as both literally and symbolically, the war would evolve with Nicoraqel's own actions.
The early war, the Arqala Subwar, was the death of peace, complacency, and unbridled confidence. The introduction of the Arqala caused intense uproar, as the introduction of new factions often does. Despite this, the symbolic forces of confidence, the Freeterrors, remained unchanged, unmitigated, and so, the war would evolve. The Nicora Civil War presented a transition, a painful initial motion into a deeper, darker reality. With the give out of Laecanth, and the complete takeover of Calaxoth, this reality changed entirely. The system of Epyllon would reflect this, with the shattering of the system into Dark, there was the birth of a genuine underworld. A place where death could dwell. Death had a foundation, and an intent. Nicoraqel, in its prior form, as Laecanth represented the hesitancy of death, and thus, despite its progression, the form never truly emerged in an unbridled state. As Calaxoth, this hesitancy died as well, giving rise to rationalized and mechanical processes of death. But some deaths can not be rationalized, contained within their mechanical necessitation.
The transition from a force of nature to a genuinely malevolent death within Nicoraqel, was represented by the progression of the Theos Subwar. At the conclusion of the war, with the death of Tarivinius, the following subjugation of Nicovis into Nicoraqel, and the subsequent hierarchy switch to Gorozoth, marked the rise of a malevolently aligned death. With the malevolence of death awakened, its motions became far more vicious. Slaughters appeared before, but at minimal frequency. Now, slaughters and lost battles were the rule; not the exception. Gorozoth would increase the pain and suffering of the war tenfold. Despite its actions, its nature was far more flighty and anxious in practice. This is because Gorozoth is the representation of the rush, the feelings felt at the very moment of death's approach. As such, the war swung back and forth at an extreme rapidity over the feelings of grief, anxiety, anticipation, or excitement. This portion of the war was the Cognia Subwar. The Cognia Subwar is the container of this erratic struggle because of the Temple Cognia, which was the last, true ray of hope. But malevolence and death combined will not let such things survive a complete ego death.
As all these feelings compounded, as Gorozoth brought death to an unpredictable level of erraticism, as Cognia began its final push to give the cosmos hope, they came to a head in one, beautiful battle of destruction. The Slaughter of Terrodon, the single deadliest battle in the war up to that point. With the destruction of Cognian forces, and every single other living thing on the battle field, a notable shift cast a wave over space. A horrid, gut wrenching feeling, the stench of death. So began the Cadaver Subwar.
The Cadaver Subwar became the byproduct of all that was before. Unfathomable destruction, unparalleled death, unstoppable malevolence, the end of hope, and the nigh devastation of confidence. Only one ounce of confidence remained, the confidence in life itself. The confidence, the courage, the audacity to live. The singular point moment in which death was to come to pass, Nicoraqel appeared at Relzaboth, raising a scythe to kill the final Freeterror, Sarzaroth. With him, would go all confidence in space, history, and self. It began to move, and a black door opened, and through it came a red light. Serkos, to end the motion of Nicoraqel. It killed Nicoraqel, and with it, the war.
Each segment of the war represents a change in the type of death which comes to pass, building to a greater, symbolic death, which is never to pass because of Serkos. The war follows solely the motions of Nicoraqel, evolving as it does, drowning out all threats with shear, boiling hatred and death.