By the middle of the 23rd century, the Greater Terran Union had earned the respect, if not
the admiration, of its interstellar neighbors.
The occupation and annexation of the comparatively primitive Wassari civilization had demonstrated
the effectiveness of the Union’s military but also raised new questions on how these
and other aliens might one day be integrated.
For many, the death of former High Marshal Natasha Fox seemed to mark the end of the
beginning and billions paid tribute, not only on Earth, but across the colonies and outposts
that now stretched to the very edge of the Outer Rim.
The Greater Terran Union had intended to seize critical resources before their expanding
list of rivals, but the exploration of the Outer Rim brought with it unparalleled dangers.
An enormous leviathan, a living creature larger than any ship in the Terran fleet, was detected
drifting amongst the frontier, while just two years later, a vast graveyard of derelict
alien ships was uncovered, scattered around a lonely star and broken worlds.
This latter discovery intrigued the Union’s leadership, who assembled a task force to
uncover whatever mysteries might lay there.
When the fleet arrived, the potential benefit seemed unimaginable, hundreds of thousands
of alien starships, just waiting to be picked apart and studied.
The fleet was not alone however; among the drifting debris an incredible mechanical construct
sifted through the wreckage, scavenging useful parts to add to own patchwork configuration.
Only a few of the Union’s ships returned, the rest became the newest additions to the
system-wide graveyard.
Whether the machine encountered was the sole survivor of some great battle, or a scavenger
from some distant nation remains unknown, but it was clear that the Greater Terran Union
had begun to meddle in affairs far beyond its understanding.
The disaster in the Outer Rim had weakened Fleet Command at the most inopportune moment.
Tensions had begun to flare between the United Clans of Skiron and the Rixian Galactic Directorate.
The Union had committed to a mutual defensive pact with the United Clans, but with Fleet
Command understrength, the Directorate was emboldened.
On February 16th, 2263 the Rixian Galactic Directorate, together with the Vol Hive, declared
war upon the United Clans of Skiron.
The Greater Terran Union honored its commitment and immediately entered the war, issuing its
first mass mobilization orders since the end of the Great Invasion.
It took nearly a year for Fleet Command to recover its strength and by then, the United
Clans had lost nearly half their territory with their capital and core worlds under siege.
In a bold attempt to quickly force the Union out of the war, a Rixian fleet attacked Fleet
Station Thermopylae.
Unbeknownst to them however, newly deployed Terran sensors and intelligence from the United
Clans of Skiron had spotted the fleets approach.
When the Rixians arrived in the Thermopylae system, the combined might of the Greater
Terran Union was waiting for them.
The Battle of Thermopylae was decisive.
Terran warships left behind only burning hulks and launched an enormous offensive into Rixian
territory.
Within months, Land Force Command had occupied several alien worlds, perfecting doctrines
and strategies first utilized against the Wassari.
But even as the Rixian Galactic Directorate and Vol Hive began making overtures for an
armistice, the Faraxian Union, which had so far remained neutral, launched a surprise
attack into the weakened Clans of Skiron.
Faced with a much more powerful threat, the GTU accepted the Rixian peace proposal, seizing
three systems but lacking the means to defend or govern them.
Fleet and Land Command were re-deployed to the Faraxian border, but the economy had already
been strained by years of war and the homefront had begun to suffer.
Unable to sustain a second prolonged conflict, the Greater Terran Union launched a blitzkrieg
into the Faraxian Union, swiftly taking multiple star systems.
As the military was pushed to its limits, High Marshal Lee Martin took the extraordinary
step to grant lower tiers of citizenship to the Wassari, allowing them to enlist in the
merchant marine and other auxiliary forces.
Despite a series of strategic victories, the Greater Terran Union was too distant to fully
reinforce the United Clans of Skiron, and when the Algan Republic finally entered the
war on the side of the Faraxians, its fate was sealed.
While the Terran/Algan border remained heavily fortified, the Clans were on the verge of
collapse and were forced to surrender.
In 2285, the Skiron Campaigns came to an end.
The Greater Terran Union seized several critical systems during the campaigns, but the effort
had depleted their economy and the national reserves.
Many of the fleets mobilized during the war were scrapped and without the means to defend
the remaining Skiron rump state the GTU withdrew from their defensive pact.
As the Terran Union entered an economic depression, it struggled to fortify and reinforce the
new systems it had taken during the previous campaigns.
Worse still was how hundreds of millions of Faraxian and Rixian citizens, now living in
GTU territory would be integrated.
Riots, revolts, and strikes plagued these newly acquired territories, necessitating
the deployment of further ground forces and the implementation of martial law.
The Wassari, by contrast, had acquitted themselves admirably during the conflict, serving alongside
human soldiers and sailors.
While restricted to auxiliary and logistics units, some Wassari units had come under fire
during the Skiron Campaigns and their devotion to the Greater Terran Union was widely praised.
In 2291, the Wassari Commissariat was established, containing the Wassari homeworld and several
surrounding systems.
The highest tiers of citizenship remained exclusively human, but the Wassari were free
to travel and serve across the breadth of the Union, which for the first time, was now
their Union as well.
Humanity had not only survived its first interstellar wars but gained new worlds and peoples.
Paradoxically, the conflict helped foster support for the GTU’s loyal non-human residents
while fermenting hatred against neighboring alien peoples.
Aliens might never be fully accepted, but at least some were tolerated and their literature,
art, ideals, and culture spread across the Union.
Children’s plushie toys bore the likeness of distant races, while those same creatures
were meticulously and cruelly studied in secret facilities for weaknesses.
All the while, GTU propaganda espoused humanity’s great virtues, accomplishments and sacrifices.
While historians evoked unflattering comparisons to the Imperialist eras of the 19th and 20th
centuries, it was increasingly seen as humanity’s role to pacify and bring to order the chaotic
elements of the galaxy.
The Rixian Galactic Directorate, Vol Hive, Faraxian Union, and the Algan Republic had
all been outmatched both in orbit and planetside, but with the fall of the United Clans of Skiron,
the Greater Terran Union was left to face them alone.
Still greater threats have emerged on the far edge of human colonisation efforts, with
the Peronisti Union and the Suth-Vel Confederacy closing their borders and fortifying their
positions.
But the Greater Terran Union has not sat idle, as pristine worlds are claimed and the economy
strengthened, advanced ships have entered service of a size and power never before seen.
New technologies have been mastered and the pure human will that founded and sustained
the Greater Terran Union has not once faltered.
In the century since its first ships left the Solar System, Earth has been transformed
from a battered world still recovering from invasion, to the capital of an interstellar
nation.
Humanity has awoken, and now the galaxy will see its might.
In Stellaris Invicta, the Templin Institute guides the Greater Terran Union into an uncertain
future, one you can influence.
Every Saturday we’ll live stream our progress on our Twitch channel, and viewers and patrons
will have the opportunity to vote on decisions, help name planets, ships, leaders and more.
If you miss the livestream, you can catch up on what happened when the stream is published
the next day to the Templin Archives channel.
Then, once a month we’ll produce a video like this one, detailing everything that’s
progressed in the Greater Terran Union’s struggle to achieve galactic supremacy.
The next livestream of Stellaris Invicta begins one hour after this video has gone live.
We hope to see you among the stars.