| Vatali Unsettled
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| Information
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| Conflict: Various Quorahi tribes made aggressive pushes to expand upon their power and create a new planetary government on Kiast, leading to violent uprisings
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| Date: 37 to 38 ABY
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| Location: Kiast, Kiast System
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| Combatants
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| Commanders
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- Admaro Jalan (Mayor of Foothold, defected)
- Vaharian (Gand Representative)
- Mar Rahanis (Mayor of Cainstead)
- Vorvo Tulrik (Mayor of an unknown settlement)
- Terrin Arcturus (Former Dominion Commodore)
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| Strength
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- Various Quorahi fleets
- Dominion forces
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| Casualties
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- Teron Dest
- Argen Anasaye
- Hundreds of Royal Guardsmen
- Several Vatali Nobles
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- Arcturus
- Quorahi Nation Council
- Hundreds of Dominion troops
- Hundreds of Quorahi
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| [ Source ]
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The United Tribes was a revolutionary action that took place in 37 ABY and continued for several years. This began with a large number of major Quorahi tribes unifying under a single power and attempted to claim total authority over Kiast. A series of violent skirmishes and power plays saw House Sunrider and Clan Odan-Urr drawn into a series of intelligence gathering and peacekeeping actions, each time trying to moderate and limit casualties.
The uprising was later revealed to have been co-opted by Vauzem Dominion remnants under the command of Commodore Terrin Arcturus, who used it as an opportunity to pursue a personal agenda and claim power for himself. Secretly connected to the Force and armed with a lightsaber, Arcturus was nevertheless killed during the final assault against the palace while his warship was overrun by Odanite troops. This broke the back of the attack, and brought the uprising to a swift if not bloodless conclusion.
Despite its brief length and limited battles, the Uprising brought about major change for the Kiast system. Several nobles were killed in the fighting, including members close to the royal family. Furthermore, it was soon revealed that Empress Kaltani's daughter was Force-sensitive; a fact that she had been previously desperate to keep hidden from the Jedi, but was now open to seeing her trained. In the most ironic turn of all, despite their defeat, the Quorahi saw an improvement in their social status thanks to the signing of the Foothold Concordant, and allowed their newly founded nation to exist under Vatali rule.
Conflict Details
Conspiracies
In the wake of the conflict between the Empire and the Dominion, various Quorahi groups were bidding for additional power and representation within the Kiast System. Talk of such actions had emerged and gone silent for years on end with little true push for total independence, but the pressure of the war changed things. Seemingly caught between two great powers, with no means to speak for themselves or fight back, it had been enough to create a series of meetings between a number of major tribes. Foothold, Cainstead, the Gand colonies, and several others, participated in these gatherings over time. Definitive proof of this was only gathered during mid 37 ABY, when a face to face gathering between various mayors, leaders, and representatives, took place in Foothold's outlying districts.
Having received word of these meetings, Odan-Urr dispatched Essik Lyccane, Ka Tarvitz, Nikora Rhan, and Sirra to investigate the talk. Using the latter's infiltration skills and telepathic talent, the group was able to spy on the meeting and detail the words exchanged between the various groups. The meeting itself had served as a final push to hammer out key details, but it was not without some dissent. All present there wanted greater representation and control, but the means in which they were to achieve this was constantly disputed. Some, such as Jalan of Foothold, saw an armed uprising or aggressive push as inviting disaster or even open war. Mar Rahanis of Cainstead was more open to such acts, believing that the Vatali's reliance upon them for resources gave them the upper hand. This was an opinion shared by Vaharian, who saw war as a necessary evil and was inevitable, while Vorvo Tulrik served as a voice of moderation but ultimately had decided that the revolution was needed.
Much of the meeting was stonewalled between various views on how to continue forward. Even with the difficulties that war might pose, the leaders present gave their agreement to the formation a loose linked alliance under the following laws:
- Technological recoveries and salvage is to be shared equally among townships, dependant of size and necessity.
- Conflicts which require blood are to be settled by duels between chosen champions, either in person or by airship rather than full scale wars.
- Militia forces will stand as they are, but a yearly tithe will see airships and warriors leased to a broader grand army.
- Resources are to be split equally between city-states, and nomad fleets will no longer be barred from one another’s territories.
- City-states will be permitted to continue governorship, but wider judicial and planetary decisions will become the jurisdiction of a unifying council.
With this established, it fully cemented their alliance. Viewing this as a potential threat, or at the very least a major shift within planetary power, the Odanite group withdrew from the settlement and returned to the clan's headquarters. News of this outcome was brought before Empress Kaltani by Revak Kur, Tistito Kingang, and Essik, with each trying to impress upon the Empress of the threat this might pose. However, as similar short-term alliances had been made by the Quorahi in past centuries, the Empress viewed this as being a fleeting issue that would likely resolve itself. Wishing to focus instead upon rebuilding her powerbase following the Dominion's loss, she asked that the Jedi only monitor the situation but offered no means to directly counter it.
With a clear risk of civil war at play, Sunrider's leadership opted to work alongside the Sentinel Network in pinpointing risks and means to undermine their fighting power.
Preemptive Strikes & Alliances
During the following days, Odan-Urr's various efforts concentrated upon undermining the organization overall. An agent was dispatched to Cainstead and activated a seismic charge within its mines, destroying them but without killing any of the workers. This temporarily cut off the city-state from their greatest economic strength, stalling any ambitions at waging wars or supporting allied airship fleets in battle. A further success was met in a simultaneous mission to Foothold, swaying Jalan into switching sides and covertly supporting the ruling government.
Brought before a private audience with Revak, Jalan was able to speak openly with the Jedi. He voiced frustrations with both how the group had managed events leading up to that point, and with the methods of the Jedi themselves, but saw allying with them as an act in the name of a greater good. While he neither liked or trusted those he was dealing with, Jalan at least understood that talking was the easiest path to avoiding war and its horrors. Through their discussions, he was swayed into opening up secret talks between them in order to help remove the more violent elements within the Quorahi, and hopefully ensure it benefitted from a more benevolent rule.
In a further push to speed matters along, Jalan spoke directly with the Empress, further emphasizing details that the Jedi had passed onto her. The two were on cordial terms, but Jalan was forced to continually emphasise the threat that the Quorahi posed during their talks. Each also voiced a number of reservations when it came to the Jedi, but neither were openly hostile toward the group. As Jalan left, without having gained any true ground, Agate Gua’lara quietly transmitted the talk to an outside source. Agate had been serving the Empress in a supporting role, but had been willing to record and detail such conversations in case they led to a greater threat.
While these talks were taking place, the Quorahi had been seeking new allies. At an undisclosed location, its leaders met with Commodore Arcturus. A former officer in the now fragmented Dominion military services, Arcturus had offered his services to the Quorahi both as a military advisor and in open battles. He keenly understood that the Quorahi were ill-prepared for any true war, even with the preparations that they had made, and he used this as leverage in their negotiations. He volunteered his troops for their defence and to train their militias into stronger fighting units, but also offered the benefit of a potential spy network. He quickly proved this by revealing that he had learned of Jalan's private meeting with the Empress, and had eye-witnesses within her inner circle.
This proof of the benefit of the Dominion's alliance was enough to sway them into accepting his support, and formally declared the formation of the Quorahi Nation.
Fort Tanisad
In its opening move, the forces of the Quorahi Nation targeted Fort Tanisad. A key part of the planet's defences, it had gone unsupplied and undermanned following the war with the Dominion. With resources stretched thin, only a limited garrison had been left to guard its walls while their ships operated on limited fuel. It was one of several potential weaknesses, and because of this fact a number of Odanite agents had been dispatched to investigate its status. Shortly after their arrival, the fort's sensors detected a massive fleet of incoming Quorahi airships. Any and all responses were quickly hindered by internal sabotage. Multiple fighters exploded on their launchpads, while the fort's blast doors slammed shut at once, isolating its troops and preventing a coordinated response. Worse still, the base's droids turned hostile, attempting to kill those that had escaped the trap and its command staff drew guns on their comrades.
Nevertheless, what should have been a total loss was salvaged in a series of retaliatory efforts. As one Jedi led the remaining fighters in a delaying action against the enemy fleet, those inside sought to overcome the sabotage. Releasing the blast doors and disabling a number of the droids, they were able to push back against the traitors and take back a portion of the base. Yet even with this success, it was clear that their position could not be held. Gathering those left, the Odanites attempted to scuttle the base's supplies and then withdraw with as many of its garrison as possible. Though the Quorahi had taken greater losses and the base had suffered severe damage, it was nevertheless taken intact by their forces.
The Uprising
With the capture of Fort Tanisad, the Vatali leadership were forced to finally acknowledge that they were facing a real threat to their power. In a conclave within the Voraskel Palace, the leaders each great house gathered and debated as to what could be done against the assault. Empress Kaltani, quickly forcing the bickering groups into silence, heard each voice in turn as House Ghalor offered its full support while House Etlina's leader questioned the Empress' decision to bring her daughter, Anaya, into the meeting. After the arrival of Revak Kur, serving as a military advisor and representative of the Jedi, the group swiftly began to pinpoint Quorahi movements and how the previous Fort was overwhelmed. Quickly identifying Arcturus' likely involvement and the support of Dominion remnant group, they were able to consider the general size and disposition of the force. While far from the largest military presence that the clan had faced, Arcturus' navy was well suited to guerilla warfare and moving in support of a larger but poorly armed group like the Quorahi.
The Empress continued to cite the possibility that they could avoid war, still desiring to prevent a second conflict so soon after the Dominion threat had seemingly been ended for good. At the same time, Jalan arrived to protest his innocence, and revealing that he had been isolated from further decisions by the Quorahi Nation. Rather than judging him personally, the Empress offered Anaya the opportunity to judge the truth within his words. This was intended as a test of the girl's skills as a future leader, but it revealed something more to Revak. Her ability to see the truth in Jalan's words stemmed from more than just good perception and judgment, as Anaya retained a strong connection to the Force. In private, the Empress revealed that this had come from her father. She had kept this fact hidden from the Jedi to prevent her being taken by the Order, believing that the Jedi would see her turned into an instrument of destruction. With more pressing matters at hand, Revak decided to focus on the impending battle, but voiced a desire to speak of this matter in detail following the conflict's conclusion.
The palace was fortified throughout the day as the Vatali prepared for the worst, and by night they were confronted by a massive attack. Vast numbers of TIE Interceptors and Bomber variants assaulted the city, leveling buildings and overrunning anything put in their path. Before long troops were deployed throughout its districts, forcing the defenders into a slow retreat as they were overwhelmed. Arcturus personally led one offensive, breaching the palace's walls and killing one of her advisors, Teron Dest, by calling upon the Force. Revealing a crimson lightsaber, Arcturus ordered his troops to hunt for the Empress' hiding place. He just as swiftly killed Argen Anasaye, the Empress' husband, despite the latter attempting to kill him via a telekinetic assault, and took Vosen Anasaye hostage. With the Vatali capital burning, two members of the Empress' powerbase dead, and another member of her bloodline held captive, the battle was rapidly turning in the Dominion's favour.
Yet in his moment of triumph, Arcturus found himself confronted by a far more capable combatant: Raziel. Engaging the Commodore before he could recover from the previous engagement, the Jensaarai Defender brought him low in a swift but vicious engagement that devastated much of the surrounding area.
With the death of the strategist at the head of the attack, momentum from the assault began to unravel. As the Vatali aligned forces rallied and began pushing the attacks back Arcturus' ship, the Storm, attempted to flee the system. This was ended by an attack via several strike team of Zanothi Nightblade and Elyon de Neverse, who were able to bring it under Odanite control with few casualties. Discovering a number of relics on the vessel and hinting at Arcturus' wider efforts following Operation Vanguard, the two were able to quickly log several items of interest for later study as the remainder of the boarding teams took control of the ship.
Shortly after this boarding action, the Storm's weapons were turned on the attacking ground troops and supporting ships. With little substantial orbital support save for the sole vessel, this swiftly disrupted their planned operations. Even with its limited firepower, the Storm was able to cut through various supporting corvettes and dropships, before firing on the ground forces beneath them. Attacked on two fronts now, and with Tython Squadron entering the battle, increasingly uncoordinated Quorahi were driven back one step at a time.
Small fire teams led by A'lora Kituri and Celevon Werd'la swiftly moved from holding the line to actively hunting targets, as the enemy ground troops found themselves cut off and unable to maintain a united front against the renewed assault. With the back of the attacking Quorahi broken, the push back against their forces quickly turned into an outright rout. Within hours, the Vatali flag was flying over the city once more.
In the weeks that followed, mopping-up operations saw a large number of arrests within the Quorahi populace. Wherever possible soldiers were taken alive, while those that resisted were pacified in increasingly isolated pockets of resistance. Royal Guardsmen stormed the warehouse that had been converted into a makeshift Council Chambers for the Quorahi Nation's leaders. Most were executed for their actions thanks to the overwhelming evidence placed against them, save for Jalan thanks to his previous actions.
Even with the blood spilled between them, the Empress permitted for Jalan to plead his case for leniency. As the Empress publically spoke with him, the surrounding crowds voiced hostility against any accusations. Jalan nevertheless pointed out that, while Arcturus was the guiding force behind them, the individual tribes were nevertheless able to operate as a single unified entity with more effectiveness than ever before.
While bitterness was clear among all involved, and the Empress was sorely tempted to outright dissolve the nation, an accord was eventually reached. The Quorahi Nation would endure as before, but it would exist under Vatali rule, and with the nobility retaining judicial oversight for any future alterations to the Nation's own laws. Furthermore, it was to be fully disarmed, with its existing military assets removed to prevent further civil wars in the future. Yet the previous outlines were accepted, and while the Vatali were granted ownership of the Quorahi salvage, new rules were drafted to more evenly support the tribes in expanding their holdings.
Although few were joyful at the Empress' offer, it was soon accepted and termed the Foothold Concordant. With further representatives being selected among the people and additional rulings to decide upon, the matter was far from over. However, it offered the opportunity for far more peace and stability than the world had seen over the past several years.