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The First Thargoid War was an interstellar conflict between humanity, represented by the Galactic Cooperative (GalCop) and the Intergalactic Naval Reserve Arm (INRA), and the Thargoids that occurred in the first half of the 32nd century. It was humanity's first war with another intelligent, spacefaring species. Although few records of the war have survived, it is believed that it was sparked in 3125 by a human frontier colony's hostile reaction to an encounter with Thargoid vessels, but it is unclear whether the Thargoids were motivated to counterattack by revenge, conquest, or something else. Initially at a disadvantage against the technologically-superior Thargoids, humanity eventually triumphed due to INRA's development of the mycoid biological weapon, which proved devastatingly effective against both the Thargoids and their ships. Thargoid encounters ceased after 3151, and it was presumed that they had either disengaged from the war and retreated to their home systems in defeat, or even been rendered extinct. In subsequent decades, the First Thargoid War was forgotten, with many among the public coming to believe that the Thargoids had never existed outside of urban legends in the first place.

Background[]

Humanity's first contact with the Thargoids is shrouded in myth. Officially, the first encounters between humans and Thargoids occurred around an ammonia-based world in 3125,[1][2][3] but unverified incidents involving similar ships were reported as early as the 2810s.[4]

Between the 2810s and 2840s, the Galactic Cooperative documented a significant number of ship disappearances in its space and near the Pleiades Nebula. Investigations found no evidence of foul-play, but the disappearances and hyperdrive malfunctions continued intermittently, stoking anxiety among pilots. In 2849, the first footage surfaced of one of these "encounters", with one blurry image appearing to show an alien ship with the word "THARG" on its hull. The media immediately coined the term "Thargoid" as a name for the aliens. However, no conclusive proof of the Thargoids' existence was obtained, and they faded into folklore.[4][5][6]

In 3111, a planetary survey team led by Professor Penelope Carver and contracted by Azimuth Biochemicals of Chukchan discovered Thargoid Barnacles and a crashed Thargoid Interceptor on the surface of the third planet of the Musca Dark Region PJ-P b6-1 system, near the Coalsack Nebula, but the team never made the connection between the alien technology and the Thargoids. The expedition's existence did not become known to the public until 3306, when the Adamastor ghost ship returned to Chukchan. The Adamastor had been sent by Azimuth Biochemicals to retrieve Carver's team and her samples, but one sample caused severe interference with the ship's systems and it was evacuated by the crew. Analysis of recovered logs imply that the survey team's base was attacked by the Thargoids, and the Adamastor itself may have been boarded by Thargoids or certain members of the crew began killing the rest to cover up the discovery of proof of the Thargoids' existence.[7][8][9][10][11]

Thargoid activity in proximity to human space appeared to intensify in the early 3120s, as new reports emerged of octagonal starships of unknown design and origin, as well as unexplained hyperdrive malfunctions. In 3123, GalCop discovered the wreckage of two ships in its space that had been destroyed by laser weapons that were more powerful than models known to exist at the time.[4]

Events[]

In 3125, independent pilots claimed that they were being pulled out of hyperspace and attacked by octagonal ships. Those who survived the experience were convinced they had encountered an alien species, and named the aliens "Thargoids" after the 29th century incidents. As the news spread, leaked Federal intelligence reports indicated that the Thargoid attacks were likely provoked by human hostility; colonists in the Veliaze system, a location no longer present in cartographic records, had apparently come into contact with a Thargoid deputation and assaulted it out of ignorance shortly before the attacks began.[1][4]

The Galactic Cooperative and the Intergalactic Naval Reserve Arm played a principal role in defending human space from the Thargoids during the ensuing conflict. While INRA tracked the Thargoids and developed the technology to stop them, Galactic Navy forces patrolled vulnerable systems. GalCop reassigned many of its trade vessels to perform military duties.[4] In the course of the Thargoid War, GalCop also captured a number of Thargoid spacecraft for research and experimentation.[12] Eventually, the Thargoid conflict came to an end as the Thargoids departed from human space, ostensibly defeated by INRA's deployment of a devastating biological weapon called mycoid, which is thought to have inflicted innumerable deaths.[4]

According to the logs of the megaship GCS Sarasvati, the First Thargoid War ended in 3151. In the aftermath, GalCop set up a series of deep space monitoring stations, one of which was the GCS Sarasvati, to watch for a resurgent Thargoid threat. This initiative was called Project Equinox. However, by December 27, 3155, no Thargoid presence had been detected whatsoever and members of the project questioned its usefulness. By August 16, 3172, Galcop had become weakened and fractured, and Project Equinox was shut down. Unfortunately, this occurred just as project lead Dr. Cassandra Lockhart discovered that the Thargoids had been sowing the seeds for their future return all along, and her warnings were ignored.[13]

Impact[]

The events surrounding the First Thargoid War were mostly suppressed and forgotten, and by the onset of the 34th century, the Thargoids themselves were generally regarded as fiction. Only a handful high-profile individuals, such as Alliance Prime Minister Edmund Mahon, had access to surviving records from the time and were aware that the Thargoids were very real.[12] It was not until after the start of the Second Thargoid War in 3303 that old INRA bases were rediscovered containing intact records from the first war, which revealed to the public this lost period in history and the apparent genocide that INRA had carried out in order to achieve victory.[14]

Perhaps the most significant effect of the First Thargoid War on the human political landscape was that it contributed directly to the collapse of the Galactic Cooperative. GalCop was primarily an interstellar trade organisation, and when it repurposed its trade fleet as a military force to defend against the Thargoids, it ate deeply into its economy. When the war ended, GalCop struggled to recover its financial losses and was helpless as the Federation and the Empire rapidly lured away its member systems. In addition, an investigation of GalCop's leadership released in 3167 found that it had become riddled with corruption and was actively deceiving citizens about its economic stability. With no viable path forward, the organisation was formally dissolved on August 19, 3174. The fall of GalCop paved the way for the establishment of the Alliance in 3230, which would go on to incorporate much of GalCop's former territory.[4]

Over the course of the war, a number of Thargoid ships were captured by GalCop, and later fell into the possession of the Alliance. By the 3270s, the Alliance was able to reverse-engineer Thargoid technology to produce the single most consequential hyperdrive innovation in centuries: the Frame Shift Drive. FSDs reduced travel times in hyperspace from hours to mere seconds, opening the floodgates for human exploration and expansion. Due to the machinations of The Club, however, the Alliance did not leverage FSD technology to gain superiority over the Federation and Empire; instead, the tech fell into the hands of Sirius Corporation, which monopolized it and distributed it to all the powers and factions, ensuring no one gained an advantage.[12]

While the Thargoids suffered a serious setback, assumptions about their near-extinction were far from the truth. Over the decades that followed their retreat from human space, the Thargoids managed to develop a way to protect themselves from mycoid, and they continued to monitor and tend to their other territories, such as the Pleiades Nebula, Witch Head Nebula, and Coalsack Nebula. Human expansion into the Pleiades in late 3301 was spurred by the discovery of Thargoid Sensors, then known as "Unknown Artefacts", which led to further discoveries: Thargoid Barnacles, Meta-Alloys, and the wreckage of Thargoid ships. As exploitation of Thargoid sites in the Pleiades increased, the Thargoids began to investigate this encroachment, and by September 3303 they reacted with lethal force, ushering in the Second Thargoid War.

References[]

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