Caulos

The planet Caulos is a small planet with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere capable of supporting humanoid life. Its surface is 92% water, with one large continent in its northern hemisphere surrounded by small archipelagos of islands. Native humanoid life has evolved there along very similar lines to humans on Earth. Caulosians are externally indistinguishable from Terrans, in fact, resembling humans from Earth's northern hemisphere (since only the northern hemisphere of Caulos is inhabited). Their internal organs do, however, differ somewhat, although more in arrangement than in form and function. There are two primary Caulosian ethnic groups, the Nexari and the Preen. Caulosian civilisation has developed slightly slower than Terran civilisation - by the 27th Century, Caulos had only just reached the fifth level of the Time Lord scale of technological development classification (approximately equivalent to Earth in the early 20th Century).

Pre-War History

Ancient Preen City States

The Preen established many great city states along the peninsula they inhabited on Caulos' lone continent, as well as several on the larger surrounding islands. Each city state was independently governed and evolved along radically different lines. They constantly warred with each other over minor territorial disputes, although between them they eventually evolved several sophisticated seafaring urban cultures, and as trade between the city states increased, a Pan-Preen culture began to evolve, encompassing the elements shared by all the city states, which included a shared language (with several dialects), advanced philosophies, and a common religion (with a pantheon of deities which included deities originally associated only with particular city states).

The Golden Age of Nexar

The Republic of Nexar began its life as a democracy thousands of years earlier (in the first year of the Nexari calendar), and throughout its ancient history it was governed by consuls elected by a senate composed of traditional aristocrats, descendants of great families, and popularly elected representatives of the people (or more accurately, of the wealthy male citizens who could afford a substantial voting tax). The Republic conquered many smaller early in-land civilisations, assimilating them into Nexari society. The Republic provided a strong central government in stark contrast to the Preen city states and the other early Caulosian societies. Eventually, it expanded up to the first Preen city states, and centuries of war between the ancient civilisations began.

The Pan-Preen Alliance

Although at first many Preen city states allied with Nexar and waged war together against their other Preen rivals, the contrast between the shared Pan-Preen culture and the aggressive, autocratic Nexari was stark, and clearly marked the Nexari as foreign to the peninsula. For the first time, a concept of fraternity between Preen city states began to develop, an early form of ethnic nationalism. Soon, the Preen city states allied against the Nexari invaders, and drove them out of the peninsula. In a spectacular battle, the Battle of Persio, the Consul of the Republic, a hundred senators, and the entire Nexari army was encircled and destroyed in a mountain pass by Preen troops, saving the ancient city states from the Nexari invasion.

The Nexari Civil Wars

Chaos broke out in the streets in the Nexari capital, and half a dozen senators each proclaimed themselves consul. Civil war broke out, and soon there were six separate capitals, six consuls, and six senates, each proclaiming themselves to be the Republic of Nexar. The Nexari Civil Wars, as they came to be known, lasted from the Nexari year 1442 until 2138, and saw Nexar descend into a dark age. The wars were brought to a close by a general, named Terovis, capturing each of the capitals and proclaiming himself Overlord of the Republic, executing each of the six consuls and the entireity of the six senates.

The Preen Enlightenment

During the period of the Nexari Civil Wars, the Preen city states disbanded their Pan-Preen Alliance, and returned to their old ways. Occasionally individual Preen city states would ally with one of the six Nexari governments or another, but for the most part the Preen didn't interfere in the Nexari Civil Wars. Preen culture reached new heights, and by the year 2200 on the Nexari calendar, the Preen could be said to be roughly on par with Italy of the early Renaissance on Earth.

The Line of Overlords

Overlord Terovis became the first of many pseudo-monarchs of the Republic of Nexar, all of whom took the title Overlord, although the associated lesser titles became more and more elaborate. Nexar staggered while the Preen city states soared, enjoying none of the Preen advances in the arts or philosophy, only developing its prowess in the field of warfare. Nexari towns degenerated into darkness and superstition, their customs almost medieval complete with the worst excesses for which that period is known in Earth's history. The light of science gradually shone in the darkness of even the most rural parts of Nexar, and by the year 3000, Nexar had more or less caught up with the Preen in every field of endeavour, although the character of its people was radically different. The Preen were artistic, their lives comfortable if not luxurious, while the Nexari were strictly functional, their homes and personal dress austere.

The Preen Confederation

The formation of a Pan-Preen state was a natural response to the reunification of Nexar. Over the centuries, the Preen Confederation was formed from the various Preen states. An early form of democracy existed in many of the substates in the decentralised Preen Confederation, although only men were enfranchised and the political debate was dominated by xenophobic political parties which believed that it was impossible to live in peace with the Nexari, whose way of life was fundamentally incompatible with Preen civilisation.

The Tero Regency

In 3178, in the Nexari city of Tero (named after the first Overlord of the Republic), Preen agents assassinated Overlord Diocletius in an attempt to destabilise Nexar's government. A regency was established for the duration of the murdered Overlord's children's minority, headed up by the Overlord's wife, Kera Diocletius. Kera Diocletius launched retaliatory military expeditions against the Preen Confederation, culminating in the Six Years War.

The Six Years War

The Six Years War was fought with early rifles and horse artillery, primarily in the north of the Preen Confederation. It began in 3185, and ended in 3191. Although Kera Diocletius' Nexari armies enjoyed early success in pitched battles, the Preen began fighting a guerilla campaign through the mountains of the north of their peninsula, cutting off the Nexari lines of supply. Pinning the main Nexari forces in the Preen mountains, the main Preen army marched for and captured Tero. They forced Kera Diocletius to sign a humiliating peace, in which she agreed to marry the king of one of the Preen substates, King Treus of Menas, and bring one of Overlord Diocletius' two sons with her as a Preen hostage. Her other son was proclaimed Overlord Selasius II.

The Patriotic Revolution

Overlord Selasius II, with his beloved mother and brother both in the hands of the Preen Confederation, proved to be a most Preen-friendly Overlord of the Republic. He was widely criticised throughout Nexar for being little more than a Preen puppet, especially after a border dispute in 3208 saw Nexar cede a large amount of arable land north of the peninsula to the Preen Confederation without firing a single shot. By this time, the population of both Nexar and the Preen Confederation had exceeded the capacity of each country to feed its people, and arable land was something Nexar could ill-afford to surrender. Famine descended on Nexar two years later, and many blamed the Overlord.

A fascist political leader named Prakis seized his opportunity. With a private army of political supporters, he marched on the Nexari capital. Although the Overlord ordered the army to stop the fascists, most military leaders were sympathetic with Prakis' cause, and many troops sent to intercept him joined the march. They arrived in the capital to find that Selasius II had fled. Prakis pronounced the Overlord formally deposed, recreated the senate (consisting entirely of fascist leaders) and had it proclaim him Consul of the Republic in 3211.

Cold War

Selasius II fled to the Preen Confederation, where he was greeted in the court of King Treus of Menas as the legitimate ruler of the Republic of Nexar. For the next ten years, each country prepared for war with the other.

The Great War

Both the Nexari and the Preen evolved militarist, racialist societies which sought to expand into the other's territory to address increasing shortages in arable land in their own territories on their shared continent. In the 27th Century, by human reckoning, in the year 3221 in the Nexari calendar, a massive war broke out between the Republic of Nexar and Preen Confederation after centuries of ethnic tension and minor skirmishes. Both sides blame each other for beginning the conflict, each country claimed that it was forced to take up arms against the other after centuries of provocation.

Struggle and Stalemate

The war raged on for eight years on a scale more terrible than any previous war in Caulosian history, with bitter trench warfare decimating the youth of a generation in each nation in futile frontal infantry charges against machine guns and barbed wire. The struggle reached a stalemate in 3229, as Nexar reeled in the midst of another severe famine. The Preen suffered from famine too, although to a much lesser extent than their oponents. It looked as if Nexar was on the verge of collapse through attrition.

The Daleks

A time corridor from the Planet Skaro in the future appeared in the northern Preen Confederation in 3229, in the midst of no man's land. The Daleks which emerged sought control of the planet's resources. After appraising the situation, they decided that this would be achieved through the least expenditure of Dalek resources by simply helping one side win the war and then ruling Caulos through them in the post-war environment. Dalek envoys met with Consul Prakis of Nexar, and offered him their support, as well as artificial food growth techniques, in exchange for him turning Caulos into a de facto Dalek protectorate. Having no interest in affairs beyond his own planet, and being assured that he would be allowed to run Caulos according to his own desires, so long as he provided them with the special Caulosian minerals they required, Prakis agreed. Daleks fought on the Nexari side and crushed the Preen military utterly.

The Peace

By 3230, the Nexari and the Daleks had total control of Caulos, and accepted the unconditional surrender of the Preen Confederation, offered on behalf of the assembled surviving heads of government of each Preen substate by Queen Kera Diocletius, former wife of Overlord Diocletius, now married to the King of Menas. Deposed Overlord Selasius II committed suicide before Nexari troops could take him prisoner. Although she swore to Prakis that she hated the Preen and her second husband, and would cause him no trouble as a private Nexari citizen, Queen Kera Diocletius of Menas was tried for treason against the Republic along with her second son by Overlord Diocletius, Henom. Both were found guilty and executed, eliminating the last of the line of Overlord Terovis and any possible rival to the Consul of the Republic.

King Treus and the other Preen heads of government were charged with war crimes, and were executed or imprisoned to be quietly murdered later. The surviving Preen military leaders and soldiers became the first group of slave labourers consigned to death in the Dalek mines. The Daleks increased their quotas more and more, and the labour requirements of the mines grew and grew, requiring the enslavement of hundreds of thousands of Preen civilians, who toiled in the mines under horrendous conditions.

Life for the average Nexari citizen post-war improved dramatically, however. Dalek food production technology saw an end to famine, greatly lessening the need for a high agricultural output, which was most fortunate given the dearth of young men to act as agricultural labourers. The austere war years are over, and higher standards of living seem just around the corner... beyond the military checkpoints and occasional Dalek patrols, a reminder of the cost of victory.