Tesseria - In Depth History

Early Civilization
Way back in evolutionary history, for geologically inexplicable reasons, ocean levels rose dramatically, which isolated four large continents by hundreds or thousands of miles. This produced an apex intelligent humanoid species on each of these main continents, who developed the beginnings of civilizations in isolation from each other until they developed ships that could explore the rest of the world.

There was much strife and war as all four societies continued to advance. The Simayans reached out to claim more and more land, while Caudatians led the way in technology and science. The Avarii almost lost themselves to civil war and anarchy a few times, while the Pinnarans did their best to learn from the mistakes of their brothers. The Pinnarans and the Simayans were the first to unite the smaller states of their continents into a single country. The Caudatians followed later, and then decades later, the Avarii finally followed suit, though their central government remains weak.

Once the Caudatians landed their first vessel on the planet's moon, academics from all four nation states began to come together more and more. Meanwhile, the Caudatians and the Simayans, who had been allies for several generations now, were becoming the most economically and militaristically powerful countries. The Pinnarans remained neutral as the Simayans involved themselves in Avarii affairs, to the end of ironing out civil rights issues that arose as a result of their excessive personal freedom. Other than that, times were relatively peaceful for a while, allowing progress to skyrocket, pun absolutely intended.

Early Space Travel
In their solar system, there were two other habitable planets and one other habitable moon. The study of life and evolution was kicked into high gear as these three celestial bodies were colonized by diverse groups of researchers. The Caudatians and the Simayans constantly deliberated over the fairness and equity of how extra-terrestrial land was to be claimed and used, and tensions were on the rise again. Meanwhile, a Caudatian scientist discovered a much more efficient way to power spacecraft using a material found on Tesseria called Unobtainium, and in the interest of power, the Caudatian government kept the discovery secret.

First Contact
The Caudatians rose in power as their enhanced method of space travel took them further and further throughout their solar system and the galaxy beyond, and their ships were approaching the speed of light. In [year] the Caudatians launched the first manned vessel toward the nearest star. Along the way, they were approached by an alien species, the Eldaral. The Eldaral presented themselves in a nonthreatening way, and followed close by as the two ships worked through their language barrier. (It helped that the Eldaral had low frequency telepaths on board, as their exploration vessels always do)

By the time the Caudation exploration ship arrived at its destination, they had already docked with the Eldaral vessel, exchanged a lot of information, and made plans for future visits. With help from the Eldaral, the Caudations developed FTL-capable ships, leaving their brothers in the dust. Meanwhile, the Eldaral created the Eldarin. The deal was: in exchange for R&D help with FTL drives and medical technology, the Caudatians would allow an Eldarin colony to be formed in their territory on Tesseria, to accelerate Unobtainium mining operations.

Eldarin Rebellion Sparks Conflict
Eventually, the Eldarin began to rebel. The Eldarin were considered citizens of neither Caudatia nor Sylva, and had no participation in government or lawmaking, yet they were serving the Eldaral's purposes. The Avarii took their side without hesitation and provided sanctuary to any and all Eldarin rebels. The Caudatians knew how far advanced the Eldaral were, and feared for the safety of all if they crossed the Eldaral and helped the Eldarin. The Simayans and Pinnarans were sympathetic to the Eldarin cause and had been nervous about the Caudatians exclusive progress in the first place, so they stood behind the Eldarin as well. This sparked the first major world war Tesseria had seen in over two centuries. The Pinnarans brought themselves, the Simayans, the Avarii, and the Eldarin together to form the Tesserian Alliance for Independence (TAI).

The Tesserian War for Independence
The Eldarin were fighting for their right to be their very own people, and the Simayans and the Pinnarans were fighting to protect their homeworld against aliens that wanted to strip it of its resources for their personal gain, and their own brothers who betrayed them. The conflict was bloody and decades passed with neither side able to gain any footing. Both sides were using biological weapons and were a hair's breadth away from resorting to nuclear warfare. The TAI got their hands on FTL-capable ships that the Eldarin had traveled by and were working to make more and take the fight to the stars.

It got to a point where the Caudatians and Eldaral were contained on the continent of Caudatia, and the Eldaral were having difficulty resupplying to the surface because of defenses the rebels had in place to stop ships from getting near the planet, yet the TAI could not invade Caudatia. The TAI would pose a very real threat to the Eldaral, even their homeworld, once they completed development of FTL-capable ships, so the Eldaral unleashed weapons of mass destruction on Tesseria.

Much of the Caudatian population was left intact, since they were notified in advance and were able to construct shelters and keep their people safe, but the TAI was all but wiped out, civilians and all. Some managed to escape Tesseria and flee to the three other colonies within their solar system, but the TAI population was reduced to around 100,000. The Caudatian population was hardly affected, as they were quickly evacuated by the Eldaral. This rendered Tesseria irradiated and uninhabitable, and destroyed the already unstable but highly valuable Unobtainium hidden beneath its crust.

Feeling they had done enough damage to render the threat inert, especially since the TAI were beginning to make contact with other races and would be too concerned with rebuilding and finding their new place in the galaxy to be a threat, the Eldaral left the TAI alone from that point forward. To this day, there is a secret, undercover Eldaral strike force seeking to eradicate what's left of the Eldarin, but this is not public knowledge, even to the Eldaral. Their stance on it now was that it was very tragic that such an atrocity had to be committed to protect themselves against a very real threat.