For decades, the Greater Terran Union had been confronted by a growing alliance led
by their historic rivals, the Algan Republic.
However, the rapid exploration and colonization of the outer rim had brought the GTU into
contact with a powerful new empire known as the Peronisti Union.
Surrounded by hostile alien nations, Terran High Command began developing a series of
color-coded contingency plans outlining potential strategies for the most likely scenarios.
In the event of war, the Greater Terran Union would not seek to merely defend it borders,
but aggressively occupy enemy territories and planetary systems.
At the dawn of the 24th century, the first of these war plans was put to the test.
With Terran military forces concentrated elsewhere, the Peronisti Union launched a surprise attack
into the GTU’s lightly fortified outer rim territories.
They seized half a dozen border systems in the opening strikes, stunning Terran planners
who had long considered the Peronisti too distant to be a serious threat.
War Plan Case Yellow was immediately executed, but with most of Fleet Command still stationed
along the border with the Algan Republic and Rixian Galactic Directorate, several of the
Greater Terran Union’s newest colonies lay almost completely undefended.
Right in the path of the Peronisti advance was the mysterious Doria system.
Home to extraordinarily abundant mineral deposits, Doria’s asteroid belt had been a prime candidate
for exploitation.
Yet mysterious sensor readings from deep within the system had delayed these plans.
Memories of the disastrous encounter with the Scavenger construct lingered among the
Marshalls and it had been decided to observe Doria until its true nature was discovered.
When the Peronisti fleet arrived in the Doria System, the GTU’s suspicions were confirmed.
Hundreds of living attack craft swarmed from previously dormant asteroids, slamming into
Peronisti warships sowing chaos and confusion.
While not enough to break their armada completely, by the time the Peronisti had recovered and
scoured the creatures from Doria, Terran Fleet Command was ready.
In what would later be known as the Battle of the Binary, the largest Terran task force
ever assembled engaged the Peronisti, crippling their advance in a single decisive blow.
Within two years, every occupied system was liberated, and the invasion of their space
had begun.
When the Peronisti were forced to sue for peace, the Greater Terran Union had seized
much of their territory across the Outer Rim.
Case Yellow was a success.
The war against the Peronisti and the transfer of military forces to the far rim territories
had emboldened the dissident elements of the GTU, especially within the volatile occupation
sectors.
On the world of Yeedru, a planetwide revolt by Rixian sympathisers overthrew the local
Terran garrison and declared its independence.
When Land Force Command had fully mobilized and was able to respond, Yeedru had already
rejoined the Rixian Galactic Directorate.
The loss of Yeedru enraged the Greater Terran Union and demonstrations took place on every world.
Terran intelligence services had uncovered evidence that the revolt had been sponsored
and supplied by the Rixian Galactic Directorate as well as its allies, the Algan Republic
and the Faraxian Union.
With the territorial integrity of the GTU threatened, such foreign manipulations could
not be allowed to continue.
In 2314, the Greater Terran Union began assembling armies and fleets along the Rixian-Algan border
that dwarfed even those deployed in the previous war against the Peronisti.
On August 16th, Terran diplomats presented a 10-point ultimatum to the Rixian Galactic
Directorate, which was given 48 hours to respond.
When the Directorate refused and presented its own counter-proposal, the Greater Terran
Union enacted War Plan Case Blue.
Within the first year of the war the Rixian Galactic Directorate had been decimated.
Its fleets had been crippled in a series of engagements and Terran ships roamed across
its space with impunity and Yeedru was swiftly retaken alongside its surrounding systems.
The greatest threat however remained the Algan Republic, and in a campaign echoing the strategy
of the Peronisti, the Greater Terran Union began an enormous offensive across the Outer Rim.
Lightly defended and home to only a scattered few developed colonies, the GTU seized dozens
of systems.
In 2321 after 7 years of war, the Algan Republic, Faraxian Union, and the Rixian Galactic Directorate
capitulated.
The Algan Republic had lost nearly a third of its territory while its allies had been
removed as major powers in galactic affairs.
The Greater Terran Union by contrast had won control over huge territories in the Outer
Rim and cemented itself as the primary superpower in its region of the galaxy.
Control of the Outer Rim brought with it enormous opportunities and in the decades that followed,
the GTU began a development campaign of
unprecedented scope.
Utilizing new technologies and methods previously only theoretical, entire worlds were terraformed
to better suit human colonization.
Settlements flourished into colonies that rivaled those of the inner core, new Commissariats
were established, and the entire Union prospered in this golden era.
The destruction of the United Clans of Skiron in 2341 sent shockwaves across the GTU and
ended any remaining thoughts of isolationism.
While no longer formal allies, the United Clans had earned a special relationship with
the Union and their defeat at the hands of the Algan Republic could not be ignored.
Within months of the United Clan’s surrender, the Greater Terran Union declared war on the
Algan Republic, this time not only to seize territory, but force the vassalization of
their empire.
Still not fully recovered from the previous war, the Algan Republic and its allies, now
formalized under a federation known as the Compact, was reduced to fighting a guerilla campaign.
This was not enough to prevent the conquest of the Algan Homeworld or many of its core
systems which for centuries had been deemed too heavily defended for Fleet or Land Command
to directly attack.
In desperation, the Compact even turned to the Zhell’Zen, fanatic zealots and marauders
who had pillaged and warred across the galaxy for the highest bidder.
While their raiding fleets were greatly feared, even within the GTU, Fleet Command had been
fully mobilized and the Zhell’Zen were forced to retreat after suffering terrible losses.
The Greater Terran Union had intended to replace the government of the Algan Republic with
one more amenable to Terran values, but the reality of the situation was far different.
When an armistice was declared, instead of a smooth transition of authority, the Algan
Republic descended into chaos.
Rival factions emerged across its worlds, making higher level negotiations impossible.
The Republican Polenian States, a Terran sponsored puppet government, achieved power in only
a handful of systems, beset by bombing campaigns, civil unrest, and economic woes.
As Terran advisors flooded into the Polenian States, the true cost of this “victory”
had become clear.
For over three hundred years the Algan Republic had been the Greater Terran Union’s principal
rival, a hostile nation, but a stable one, whose actions could be anticipated and counted
on to act in its own best interest.
Its fragmentation and collapse has left its region of the galaxy more dangerous than ever.
Piracy and criminal elements have returned to lawless systems at a scale never before
seen while the Zhell’Zen and other marauders have increased their activity as well.
Perhaps most importantly, the conquest of the Outer Rim has brought to the GTU strange
new discoveries and insights.
In a remote system taken in the closing days of the war, the Greater Terran Union has uncovered
a strange new derelict unlike any before encountered.
Whatever it is, it was of particular interest to the Algan Republic and the GTU has continued
their progress in unlocking its secrets.
The wars against the Peronisti and the Compact may have dominated Terran affairs, but the
true enemy has never been forgotten.
The original invaders, the Tyrum, remain and until they have been destroyed, every opportunity
will be exploited, no matter the cost.
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.