Divide and Conquer

r/HFY
Mad_Mechanic_

Humans....

They were the first race to reach the stars, the first to claim other worlds as their own, and the first to discover that they were not, in fact, alone out there. And they accomplished all this nearly 10000 Standard Galactic Cycles before anyone else.

When the Vollen rose from the Forests of Canira, and turned their collective sights on the stars, the Humans were waiting for them. They extended a hand of friendship, offered them Technology, Knowledge and an Armistice. The Vollen accepted without a second thought, and soon, the First Union was born as a joint government between Humans and Vollen. And for another five thousand years, they co-operated and co-existed, founding millions of colonies throughout the galaxy, and establishing the hyperlanes that are the foundation of our modern way of life.

Then, the Hives of Tal'sulla united across their entire world, and spread like a nightmarish disease throughout the galaxy. The Humans and Vollen tried to be peaceful, but the Hive ignored them. They sent diplomats, but the Hive consumed them. And before anyone saw it coming, the Hive attacked the First Union. At first, the Vollen began losing worlds, So the humans sent their Grand fleet to intervene, but little did they know that the invasion was a distraction from a targeted strike on Olympia, the Human homeworld. And at this news the Vollen pushed the hive from their Territory and sent aid to the Humans, exposing their own homeworld.

These came to be known as the swing wars, so called because the tide of war kept changing to favor a different side. It raged for an amount of time that none can even remember. Millions of Human and Vollen colonies were presumed destroyed or irredeemably damaged. Most species currently part of the Galactic council were uplifted or discovered by the first Union during this period. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about species discovered by the Hive, who saw them as nothing more than food.

In the end, thousands of species, independent or vassalized by their own discretion, from Garden worlders to Death worlders, all stood together with the First Union against the Hive and, to the dismay of the extremely Xenophilic Humans and Vollen, drove them to extinction.

Years passed, and the worlds lost were declared memorials. The galaxy moved on, alliances were formed, allies were betrayed, foes argued. All was as it should be.

Then we discovered... Humans... again