Wars

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The Merine Empire prefers to expand its influence using MERA units first and foremost, but many civilizations either reject their offers or fend off phase two of the Merine invasion. In such cases, the Empire will use large squadrons of MANA-3 units to subdue any resistant lifeforms with either lethal or non-lethal force, at the discretion of their Emyuk-Rachni Detection Arrays. It is historically estimated that the Merine Empire has won over 95% of all armed conflicts it has engaged in. Below is a list of major battles and campaigns that have served as either culturally or tactically significant touchstones.

Skelan Ignition War (Dates: Unknown)
Before the creation of the Merine Empire, the Precursor race lived alongside at least three other sapient species on planet Skela. For reasons unknown, two or more of these civilizations entered into a protracted war that eliminated a significant fraction of Skela's population. Given that the civilizations of Skela had advanced technology that was capable of controlling planetary weather and creating intelligent computer minds, USC anthropologists theorize that their armaments were similarly advanced. The Skelan Ignition War left Skela habitable, but with very little remaining workforce. This is what pushed the Precursors to create the self-replicating units that would go on to create the Merine Empire.

Yuni Autowar (Dates: c. 1000/4 - 1200/4)
This conflict marked the first time the Merine Empire clashed with another civilization. Their prior exploits had only included uninhabited planets and asteroids. Historical documentation states that MANA-3 units had already been produced and trained for armed conflict, but had not seen use. Archival research into intact MANA-3 memory cores reveals that the first ten years of this war were extremely informative for the fledgling military, and that losses for the Merine were massive at first. The Pradoran Houses could be said to be highly influential on modern Merine tactics.

First Contact
Sometime in the early 1000/4s, Merine planetary conversion was already underway on planet Yuni'Agren. Unmanned probes from the Pradoran Houses encountered the initial three MANA units, sparking a brief battle that destroyed all of the Pradoran probes and critically damaged the MANA-2 on the site. While neither side gleaned much about the other in this exchange, both would go back to Yuni'Agren in the following year in an attempt to secure its significant mineral deposits. The Pradoran Houses and Merine Empire would clash several more times on and around Yuni'Agren in the coming years. After a particularly decisive victory, the Pradoran forces constructed a permanent fortress on the planet's surface, which was equipped with surface-to-space artillery that allowed them to control a large part of the planet. Merine forces withdrew from the conflict for two years in favor of other, less costly frontiers.

Pursuit
Once the majority of the Pradoran staff in the Yuni'Agren fortress had thinned and been replaced with largely mining technicians, the Merine Empire struck back with a large force of MANA-3 units and a smaller contingency of MANA-1 and -2 units, destroying the fortress. From the wreckage, Merine researchers reverse-engineered Pradoran galactic positioning data and used it to locate the Pradoran homeworlds. This critical information allowed Merine scouts to chart out every Pradoran emplacement on their held worlds.

MERA units were deployed to each extant Pradoran world in the following months. The Pradorans, fearing another protracted conflict, withdrew from less populated worlds and fortified urban residential worlds. This delayed an open war for twelve years as the Pradorans gave up more and more ground to the encroaching Empire. Finally, having colonized every other planet in the Gi star system, colonization efforts focused on the sole residential world remaining under Pradoran control. A general evacuation was ordered as Pradoran forces attempted to fight back against the assembled MANA-3 legions. Though over a billion Pradoran citizens escaped, an estimated two hundred million citizens perished in the conflict, with the remaining population placed into slave camps. This crippling blow was made even more difficult by the Pradorans' already low population due to the Winnowing.

Last Stand
Some time during the very early 1200/4s, the MERA Ruler was deployed to one of the Pradoran homeworlds, where it landed without incident. This was both a peace offering and a threat. It proved that the Merine Empire had technology capable of reaching their homeworlds without being detected.