Themiclesian-Kolodorian Hyper War

Themiclesian-Kolodorian Hyper War
Part of Hyper Era
Themiclesian soldier in Proto-Letnia
Date 23,119-22,899 BCE Location Septentrion Result Themiclesian Victory Dissolution of the Kolodorian Dominion Great De-synchronization
Belligerents
Themiclesian Collective	Kolodorian Dominion
Commanders and leaders
Xi Shu	Eisolos
Strength
75 million hominids	53 million homo sapiens
Casualties and losses
24 million hominids	16 million homo sapiens

The Themiclesian-Kolodorian Hyper War, also known as the Collective-Dominion War, was an armed conflict fought between the pre-historic powers of Kolodoria and Themiclesia, lasting from 23,119 to 22,899 BCE.

The root of the conflict lay in the competing ideological differences over definitions and concepts of humanity, and what constituted a human being. Themiclesian schools of thought predominantly favored the cognitive sapience view of humanity, in that any sapient being capable of recognizing, acknowledging, and adopting the social and legal customs of human civilization could be considered human. Kolodorian ideology instead favored a definition dependent on DNA; only those genetically human could be considered a human being and thus granted the rights and status of person hood. Although the two states had previously cooperated against the Neanderthal Empire in 50,000 BCE, Kolodorian efforts to drive the Neanderthal to extinction earned Themiclesian ire, resulting in a cold war between the two major powers of Septentrion.

As the Last Glacial Period came to an end beginning in 30,000 BCE, increased population growth and resource scarcity drove the two powers into direct competition, which eventually culminated in open warfare beginning in 23,119 BCE. Themiclesia invaded Casaterra, land traditionally considered the domain of Kolodoria, resulting in large scale fighting across the continent. Kolodoria responded by invaded Meridia and staging attacks in Hemithea, including strikes against Themiclesia itself. Despite occasional Kolodorian victories however the larger Themiclesian bastion of population, resources, and industry gradually wore down Kolodorian efforts. By the 229th Century BCE Kolodoria had been forced to cede much of proto-Letnia and parts of Vinya to Themiclesia, with a final campaign against the heart of Kolodoria starting in 22,951 BCE. A depleted Dominion finally surrendered in 22,899 BCE, bringing an end to the conflict.

Themiclesian victory proved to be a Pyrrhic one. Despite the efforts of the Collective, Themiclesia was unable to prevent the extinction of most other human species besides homo sapiens. Only the Nekomimi of Meridia and the Elves of Vinya survived, which gradually were assimilated into the local human population and lost much of their unique culture and physiology. Exhausted by the war and ultimately disappointed by the aftermath, the Themiclesian Grand Council elected to launch the Great De-synchronization; the elimination of all advanced civilization across Septentrion and the removal of any trace of their existence. Approximately 95% of the archaic human population of the world elected to join the Grand Council in fleeing Septentrion aboard colony ships destined for the stars, while a small number remained behind to ensure humanity's survival. Knowledge of the Hyper War, and the civilizations that fought it, was quickly lost alongside their technology and resources.

Background

Human and Neanderthal soldiers during the Primate Uprising.

During the Primate Uprising that brought about the Pleistocene , the various species of hominids had existed in relative tranquility and practiced intense cooperation. By 150,000 BCE the hominid genus had become dominated by homo sapiens (often simply called "humans" or "sapiens") and Neanderthals. Relations between Humans and Neanderthals were usually peaceful, and it was during this period that the concept of a "Hominid Union" first appeared. The idea of unifying the various hominid species under a single political entity was common among the various Human and Neanderthal nations and several initiatives towards that goal were launched by 120,000 BCE.

The onset of the Ice Age starting around 115,000 BCE brought an abrupt alteration to these plans. The changing of the climate brought with it new hardship to the various Hominid nations, leading to food shortages and resource scarcity. As global temperatures plummeted, many humans were forced to migrate south closer to the equator. Neanderthals, however, proved better adapted to the new climate and remained present in the northern regions in large numbers. In Vinya however, competition from the faehominid of Ivernica prevented the large scale migration of humans from the north, resulting in a large exclave of humans in what became known as Kolodoria. In Hemithea, humans largely coalesced into the Themiclesian Collective, centered around the lands of the modern states of Themiclesia, Maverica, Dzhungestan, Polvokia, and Menghe.

Unlike in Vinya and Casaterra, there existed a noticeable degree of separation between the human populations of Hemithea and the Neanderthals, who remained largely within the boundaries of modern day Nukkimaa. This division led to significantly less friction and direct competition compared to Kolodoria and the Neanderthal presence in Casaterra and Vinya, especially in the land of modern day Letnia. Direct competition, and eventually conflict, quickly arose between Neanderthals and the Humans of Kolodoria. For the first 30,000 years of the Ice Age, this conflict was largely disorganized and ad hoc; large scale warfare was not common, but the constant friction between the two species led to a great deal of mutual animosity that built up over the course of the millennia.

By 70,000 BCE, the Neanderthal domains had formed an effective empire stretching across the arctic from Vinya through Casaterra to Hemithea. This unified polity granted the Neanderthals immense sway in political and economic fields across Septentrion, and was heavily exercised against Kolodoria. Open warfare between the two powers waged back and forth for the better part of 20,000 years, marked by occasional peace overtures and interventions from Themiclesia. By 55,000 BCE however the leadership of Eek had turned the Neanderthal Empire into a path of direct collision with the Human states of Septentrion; recognizing that the eventual recession of the glacial period would bring about the resurgence of human proliferation among Neanderthal territory, Eek sought to balance out the Human-Neanderthal dynamic via the subjugation of Kolodoria.

Unwilling to stand by while it's fellow human nation was attacked, Themiclesia intervened on behalf of Kolodoria, overruning Neanderthal holdings in northern Hemithea. Resistance from both human powers proved too much for Eek's empire to resist, and over the course of the next 5,000 years the Neanderthal holdings in Casaterra and Vinya were steadily reduced by Kolodorian-Themiclesian invasions. Despite Themiclesian authorities painting the conflict as a limited political dispute, Kolodorian animosity from millennia of Human-Neanderthal conflict resulted in a violent campaign of annihilation against the Neanderthal, intent on ensuring Human dominion over Septentrion.

By 50,000 BCE the Empire of the Neanderthal had been systematically destroyed, their advanced civilization gone and only scattered communities left. To Kolodoria, such actions were justified on the basis of countless centuries of pent up aggression and disdain for the Neanderthal, but for a Themiclesian society where dreams of a Hominid Union still found fertile soil, it was a disturbing development and a blow to the ideals of the future. When Grand Minister of Habitation Shin Yun revealed to the Themiclesian Grand Council in 36,602 BCE that the Neanderthal species was effectively doomed to extinction due to low fertility rates and population decline amid rapid concurrent human population increase, the news was received with a mixture of shame and mourning.

The differences in the approach to the Neanderthal highlighted the underlying opposing views Themiclesia and Kolodoria had regarding other Hominids. For Kolodorians, who's history had long been one of conflict between Humans and other members of the genus, the concept of civilization was dependent heavily on one's genetic lineage. Acceptance into Kolodoria required the DNA of homo sapiens; in Themiclesia however, where peaceful relations with the Nekomanni of Meridia had long flourished, personhood and society had long been considered the domain of those who possess the cognitive abilities to recognize and reason with societal and legal norms.

Such differing viewpoints fundamentally shaped the grand strategy of both states in the aftermath of the Neanderthal War. In the centuries that followed the Themiclesian Collective pursued an increasingly expansionist policy of cooperation and mutual integreation intended to encompass the vast breadth of hominids across Septentrion, to include the population of faehominids of Vinya, the Nekomimi of Meridia, and what remained of the Neanderthals of Hemithea. Promoted by scholars such as Shin Li and Zi Han, this effort to incorporate other hominids into a single polity was coined "cognitive sapience", which defined humanity in the cognitive abilities of the individual regardless of heredity and genetics. The Themiclesian government heavily promoted this viewpoint to encourage cooperation between the Collective and the other hominid nations of the world.

In Kolodoria, the works of scholars such as U̯eiknos and Ti̯egᵘ̯tornos moved in an antithetical perspective; humanity was defined by its genes and lineage. Civilization, it was argued, functioned best when within the confines of the genetic code that had spawned it. Shaped by Kolodoria's historically poor relations with it's hominid neighbors, Kolodorian philosophy insisted that a multi-polarity world divided into species-specific nations was preferable. This view was criticized by Themiclesian scholars as "sapiens supremacist", and a cover for a general desire among the Kolodorians to establish a human dominant power bloc in the world, at the expense of the independence and influence of the other hominids.

It was this philosophical disagreement that began to lead to confrontation between Kolodoria and Themiclesia in the millennia after the fall of the Neanderthals. Themiclesia, operating on the auspice that all hominids could co-exist under the same banner, against Kolodorian efforts to coalesce homo sapiens into a single state.

Prelude to war

As the Glacial Period came to an end, sea levels rose as much of the ice that had covered Septentrion melted away. The resulting change in the climate and geography across the planet had significant repercussions for both the Kolodorian Dominion and the Themiclesian Collective. By 28,000 BC the steady rise of sea levels had forced mass migration of many Faehominid away from the coasts of lower Vinya, creating friction between their resettled populaces and the southern reaches of Kolodoria. For many Kolodorians, who felt the Fae had failed to properly support the Kolodorians in their struggle against the Neanderthals, the arrival of additional non-human hominids and the resulting rise in tensions along the border provided further ammunition for the Kolodorian arguments against pan-Hominid political organization.