Archive / Narratives

The Battle of Spartania, Part 1: The Shapas Desert and the Initial Incursion (Full Text)

Type: Narrative — Canon History, WW3-Era (Full Text) Status: ⛔ SUPERSEDED — NOT CANON (see note below). Full text preserved per archival standard for historical/development-process record only.

This is the opening phase of the war for control of the Shapas Desert, later expanding into the wider World War 3 conflict already documented on World War 3: Full Detailed Timeline. See also The Sentois War Council for the strategic planning that follows this initial incursion.

⛔ NOT CANON — superseded per creator correction. The overall arc of this campaign (the Shapas incursion, the fall of Sentois, Tilling's arrival, the Skip-Glide Bombers, the fall of Spartania, and the resulting government resignations) has been explicitly discarded by the creator as non-canon. Some individual details may still hold, but the narrative as a whole should not be treated as settled history. A current/canonical version of this campaign has not yet been located in the source material — this page is preserved only as a record of an earlier development pass, not as lore.

The Shapas Desert

An oval basin 800 miles wide, 650 miles north-south — formerly (millions of years ago) an inland sea. Connected to the greater Dielvan Wac Desert to the north, west, and south by an unnamed arid corridor 200 miles wide, 60 miles long, believed to be the former outflow channel of the ancient sea into what's now the Dielvan Wac. This corridor's hard-packed sand surface functions almost as a highway, ideal for tank traffic — flanked on both sides by impassable rocky terrain (cliffs, dunes, boulder fields).

Spartania sits 200 miles north of this corridor, where desert transitions to grassland, and serves as headquarters for all Imperial desert forces across the Shapas and a 1,000-mile arc westward.

Spartania's Strength

1.7 million troops from over a dozen nations, including 150,000 EUN troops and ~20,000 from other nations training there. Thousands of modern tanks and armored vehicles, 500-800 artillery pieces, 1,500 tracked anti-aircraft units, 400 fighters, 150 heavy bombers, 80 medium bombers. Spartania serves simultaneously as the Empire's premier desert warfare training center — HALO/paratroop training, cargo aircraft operations, night fighting, desert survival — for over a dozen allied nations.

Two Arcs of Bases

  • Northwest Arc (7 bases): curves from Spartania eastward, facing the (perceived) threat from the Republics of Waon.
  • Southeast Arc (7 bases): faces Morpasya, a former Republic ally largely dormant for 15 years, defended by mere skeleton crews except the westernmost/southernmost base — Sentois.

Sentois and the Desert Rats

Sentois, 500 miles southeast of Spartania, is home to the "Desert Rats" — a combined Empire-Peplle light armored mechanized force of 2,200 elite desert fighters, backed by artillery, tanks, APCs, IFVs, tactical helicopters, and state-of-the-art communications.

Timeline of the Initial Incursion

  • December 25, 1975, midnight: Desert Empire tanks cross into the Shapas — unprovoked, catching eastern garrisons off guard.
  • January 2, 1976: Outposts Rului and Relai fall within hours; equipment captured intact, prisoners treated per wartime convention.
  • January 3-6: Rapid strikes consolidate control of the eastern Shapas.
  • January 7: News reaches Xapata, the Empire's Central Military Command, which dismisses the attacks as a diversion — believing the true threat is the Republics of Waon, despite zero evidence of Republic mobilization.

Xapata's Controversial Stand-Down Order

Central Command orders Spartania to observe but not engage, reorienting forces northward against the (nonexistent) Republic threat, and denies all requests for reinforcement. General Orlik (Spartania's CO) grows frustrated: "We are not facing a diversion. This is a well-organized, determined enemy." Xapata's reply: "The Republics of Waon are the real threat. Do not be drawn into a trap."

The Southeast Collapse

The Desert Empire overruns Bases 1-4 in the southeast arc with minimal resistance, then halts at Base 4 ("No Man's Land"). Garrisons from Bases 5-6 flee to Sentois, bolstering it with 150 troops, 14 tanks, 6 tank-killer helicopters, and artillery.

The Morpasya Alliance Revealed

Special Forces infiltrate No Man's Land in disguise, discovering: many English-speaking, disgruntled oil/mine workers among the Desert Empire ranks; a massive resupply convoy from Morpasya running continuously through the night, ultimately bringing over 800 Morpasyan troops and thousands of tons of supplies; and, near Morpasya, a mysterious "city of lights" stretching ~100 miles with heavy air traffic — despite Morpasya having no cities in that location. By January 19, Special Forces confirm ~17,000 troops, 700 tanks, 140 self-propelled howitzers, hundreds of helicopters and aircraft assembled around No Man's Land.

Command Identified: Bronson and Johnson

Special Forces determine two commanders of roughly equal rank lead the buildup: General Harold Bronson, just 32 years old, and General Andrew Johnson — tall, taciturn, initially mistaken by Special Forces for Medaris's actual aide-de-camp (a different man with the same name). At 4 AM on January 19, the force splits: Johnson's half moves north into the desert, Bronson's half moves west toward Sentois.

Navalli's Push for Preemptive Action

Lt. Gen. Navalli, Spartania's decorated 2nd-in-command, urges Orlik to break Central Command's orders and strike while the Desert Empire remains vulnerable — warning that Kaolsan tribes are wavering toward Medaris's "restore what's rightfully yours" rhetoric, and that further delay only strengthens the enemy. Orlik, torn between Navalli's logic and his orders, initially compromises: intensify reconnaissance, prepare rapid response.

The Impossible Orders

At 5:30 AM, orders arrive: deploy Spartania forces north against the Republics (still a confirmed non-threat) while relying on Sentois's mere 2,000 troops to "defeat the few hundred troops of the Desert Empire" — a wild underestimate given Central Command's belief the Desert Empire numbers only ~800 troops with a few dozen outdated tanks, versus the true ~17,000+ force with hundreds of tanks now confirmed on the ground.

Orlik's Decision

Facing the imminent arrival of First Lord-Admiral Tilling (Central Military Command) at 5 PM, Orlik makes his decisive break from orders:

"Ignore the redeployment order northward until the arrival of Tilling... Order Sentois to fight, withdrawing only when the commander has determined sufficient time has passed... Move the 2nd Army east to meet the column arriving from the central desert. Reposition Col. T.J. Bradley and his battalion south to meet Bronson when he begins his turn north after overrunning Sentois... evacuate civilian personnel 400 miles northeast to Soulsen. The war is here. Now we fight."

Appearances

  • Creator-provided detail (ChatGPT export, "Continent Topography and Climate" — see RAW SOURCE, conversations-001.json #19)