The Death toll was in the trillions.
Seemingly in the blink of an eye, the peace of the Southern Systems was brought to a tumultous end.
In the west, a bloody pact was made. Long ago, the Outer Rim Coalition (ORC) had held the worst of the region at bay. And in the wake of their fall, chaos reigned. The Confederacy had spent years attempting to restore the peace once championed by their old friend - an effort they called The Red War. As one, the brigands, slavers, and other sinners of the west bit back. A mighty armada was formed and cut deep into the Confederacy's heart.
But they did not act alone. Hell itself was on the armada's side.
Old legends were made manifest. Stories spoke of a demon called the Unmaker who had the power to bring the Galaxy to its knees. For eons, it battled against an entity called Medjai who held it at bay. But in the present era, this beast broke from its chains. Before the end, the Southern Systems uncovered the truth of this struggle. Their own Knights Obsidian were thrown into the midst of a war that had raged for millennia. And in doing so, they earned a target upon their backs. Upon all their backs.
The Unmaker broke the divide between real and Nether. The heavens above each Confederate world were shattered. Beasts from the Netherworld descended upon major civilian centers and plunged the nation into chaos. By the time the Confederacy realized they were being assaulted, the death toll was already monumental. It was clear that their adversary was marching upon a single target. Burning a path, by space and by Nether, towards its final goal: Naboo.
This was where the Confederacy made its last stand.
This was where they managed to survive.
The Unmaker was - ultimately - thwarted. His ambitions to walk among men and sow destruction about the Galaxy was silenced by Medjai's intervention. But the fighting had cut deep. Too deep. During the battle, nearly every representative of the nation's Viceroyalty had been killed. The military was in shambles. The government was broken - stretched far too thin to even attempt restoration. In the end, the worlds spoke as one as they had at the very beginning. When all began, they spoke to unite: to stand as one so that they could best survive.
This time, they chose to part ways. They would each survive in their own way. The Systems were no longer Confederate, but truly Independent.
In the wake of this decision, what little remained of the Confederacy flew south. Refugees. The Knights Obsidian. Militant remnants. All who still carried the dream and vision of choosing their own fate made the perilous journey. They found themselves on a world long since forgotten. A harsh world, in an unforgiving system. But having stared down a literal apocalypse, what was a little sand to them?
So it was that the Confederacy came to an end.
So it was that those who survived chose to Ascend.
