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The Conquest Fleet, commanded by Fleetlord Atvar, was the Race's military arm in its attempted conquest of Tosev 3 from 1942 onward. In the only known example of gender discrimination amongst the Race, the Conquest Fleet was comprised entirely of males, simply to avoid complications arising from the mating season. Aside from soldiers, the Conquest Fleet also included numerous biologists, psychologists, and other scientific minds meant to more deeply study the planet and its inhabitants and prepare it for integration into the Empire.[1]

The males of the Conquest Fleet were the first members of the Race to encounter the culture shock that Tosev 3 offered them. They fought a costly war against the major Tosevite not-empires which ended in 1944 with an uneasy truce. Some soldiers, tired and demoralized, rebelled against their superiors, most notably during Ussmak's rebellion in Siberia, while others even defected to the Tosevites. Most of the latter were prisoners of war taken by the United States of America, who while not overtly disloyal to their Empire, still preferred the personal freedoms offered by the USA.[2] Ginger abuse became widespread throughout the Conquest Fleet, and the Conquest Fleet's members introduced the drug to civilians from the Colonization Fleet when they arrived in 1962.[3]

Those members of the Race who had not endured the Conquest Fleet's experiences found these males "addled", irrevocably damaged by their exposure to the degenerate culture of Tosev 3; the Conquest Fleet males were also widely blamed for the Race's failure to conquer the entire planet. In return, many members of the Conquest Fleet felt alienated from the colonists who represented mainstream Race society, and felt contempt for their naïvete.[4]

By the late 1960s, the Conquest Fleet had been engaged in only one other major conflict - a brief but devastating nuclear war with Nazi Germany - but its strength had been sapped considerably in crushing rebellions across Tosev 3, particularly in China and the Middle East.[5] Before his recall to Home in 1972, Atvar pressed strongly for the recruitment and training of Race colonists as soldiers, anticipating the day when the last of the Conquest Fleet's original soldiers would die of old age. By at least the 2030s, the increasingly inaccurately named Conquest Fleet was still defending Race holdings on Tosevite 3.[6]

Tosevite Conquests[]

See: Race Colonies on Tosev 3 for a list of not-empires conquered by the Conquest Fleet during the Race Invasion of Tosev 3.

Other Conquest Fleets[]

In the Race's history, two other Conquest Fleets had been dispatched, one to Rabotev 2, commanded by Fleetlord Pssufalu the Conqueror, and one to Halless 1, commanded by Fleetlord Hisstan the Conqueror. Unlike the fleet sent to Tosev 3, both of these easily completed their missions to conquer their respective planets.

Literary comment[]

The size of the Conquest Fleet was never established, but it was mentioned that the Colonization Fleet, which carried between 80-100 million Race citizens, was significantly bigger than the Conquest Fleet.

References[]

  1. Worldwar, original tetralogy, generally
  2. Ibid.
  3. Colonization, generally.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Ibid.
  6. Homeward Bound, generally
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