did hopes of reopening the wormhole. As news of this began to escape the scientific community, general dissension set in. Among the populace, a great resultant of the loss of faith in the capability of the Republic (which had always presented itself as infallible) was a split in their loyalties. Two distinct groups emerged: the loyalists and the separatists. The separatists argued that the recent behavior of the Republic was full of obvious knee-jerk moves and over-reactive mistakes. Claiming that the Republic knew its end was at hand, the separatists advocated breaking away and forming a new society, now that their would-be "oppressors" were isolated and without aid. The loyalists countered that the Republic had never been abusive (a claim hotly debated) and had always looked out for its own, and that the Terran people at least owed them continued loyalty on that point alone. Meanwhile, in the intellectual circles and among the scientific establishment, there had long been the feeling that the Republic was ill at-ease with the possibilities of the New Science, and a movement had begun to sequester and conceal as many of the Vanu artifacts as could be feasibly obtained without overt notice. As the Terran demographic continued to polarize, these movements finally came to fruition as the predecessors of the Vanu Sovereignty made their exodus and took with them the research and artifacts they had managed to stockpile over the Auraxian years. Encouraged by this, the separatists seceded, seizing a number of military stockpiles and procuring a small arsenal of military assets: they called themselves the New Conglomerate. In a backlash to this, the Republic declared these two factions outlawed, announcing their intentions to reunify with them at all costs. Shortly after this, war broke out between the Terran Republic and the New Conglomerate. Not long after, the Vanu Sovereignty was attacked by the New Conglomerate and dragged into the war. Factions Terran Republic (TR) A conservative, authoritarian, collectivist nation who strive to regain contact with the homeworld and reunite the warring factions. Their leadership is a public oligarchy known as the Overwatch, composed of various representative officials and their associated Ministries, who regulate allotted portions of society in accordance with their own expertise and the collective will towards favourable outcomes. They believe that authority is the bastion that protects humanity and that in a truly free society, with no Big Brother to guide and