In the latest string of military reformations, the Great Norani Combine granted additional powers to the recently-founded "March of the Brave" faction in 2338, allowing them additional minority seats in the Senate. Though some ignore such an action as insignificant, yet more see it as the most recent part of a recent spike in militarist tendencies in Pars Procul, popularly accepted as originating in the Hesukar Council and reflected in the United Gulk-Furki Suns and Yalon Blessed Mandate, all of which have shifted to increasingly militarized governments and policies. Oddly enough, these shifts have gone unopposed by many empires that typically espouse pacifism. The reason? A common threat.
Since their victory, however brief, over the Voor Technocracy in the early 2300s, the Caphevad Entity has become an increasingly dangerous galactic presence. As a hivemind, it lacks the base ethics diversity seen in typical spacefaring empires, leading to an unparalleled amount of unity that allows it to follow increasingly polarized policies. Over the years, both the Entity's land holdings and military has swelled in size, rivaling its more advanced neighbors and worrying nearby empires. Soon, nearly all of them had suffered from at least one war with the hivemind, and, along with those who had merely observed, begun instituting their own policies to counter any further Capheved actions.
Tensions in this region are further exacerbated by the presence of the Juvan Star Tribes, mercenary fleets for hire, who regularly assault empires at the behest of anonymous benefactors. Though the mercenaries have often played critical roles in conflicts, they have also muddied the waters and introduced additional tension to all nations present.
This wave of militarism is late for others, however. The Oklarr Union of Colonies had adopted a Commonwealth of Man-style containment system from the start, constructing an elaborate web of defense platforms on all border systems to prevent a possible Caphevad intrusion into home space. Since then, the Oklarr have waged a continuous series of border conflicts to repel Caphevad scouting parties and deter potential invasions.
The pacifist trading nations, on the other hand, have adopted their own unique stances on the Caphevad threat. Orbis Customer Synergies, located to the galactic south of the Caphevad Entity, have adopted a no-service policy, denying the hivemind access to the slave market which often boosts the latter's biomass reserve. The Cevanti Combine, however, is instead taking the role of a war profiteer, conveniently placed behind the Great Norani Combine and easily able to sell arms and ships to the Caphevad without worrying about a potential hivemind invasion. Its position as Galactic Market leader, as well as a highly-capable corporate fleet, mean that neighboring powers are mostly helpless to oppose the nation's ruthless commercialism.
For many galactic nations, the threat of the Caphevad merely proves them right. The Commonwealth of Man, much like the Oklarr, have long promoted strong anti-xeno stances, especially against the Caphevad. Although the hivemind began as a benign entity, its rapid morph into a galactic superpower came as no shock to the worst-case-scenario thinking of the xenophobic Commonwealth. Though it was on the opposite side of the galaxy, it had been quick to announce its particular hatred of the hivemind and enact a strict anti-Caphevad policy. Though seen as paranoid for the twenty years coming after the 2275 announcement, the 2295 Caphevad-Oklarr War was a quiet reminder that the hivemind was increasing in power. But the first noticeable sign of Caphevad power didn't come until 2304, during the conflict with the Voor Technocracy. Voor ships were noticeably taken off guard by the hivemind's advances, and although a Voor countermovement quickly took back Caphevad winnings from the first war, the conflict finally won the Caphevad a spot on the threats list.
Last updated 2339.7.8
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