Cambrian Crisis

The Cambrian crisis entails the period of conflict on the UTC Planet of Cambrion between 235 and 238 AC between the UTC military and various regional and sectarian forces on the planet. The conflict also saw significant fighting between Cambrian faction, largely around ethnic lines dividing unaltered Xer and colonist communities which had undergone genetic shifts to better adapt to Cambrion's climate. It was the first major conflict fought by the UTC since its inception and to this day remains the largest insurrection in its history.

The conflict began after a failed crackdown of central government forces on rising ethnic hostilities, leading to various ethnic militias to rise in open revolt, quickly joined by opportunistic regional powerholders who became warlords and planetary separatists under the banner of the Cambrion Salvation Front, which represented the most capable Cambrian force in the conflict. The undermanned government garrisons initially suffered greatly during the unexpected start of hostilities, only managing to hold on to a relatively small perimeter around the planet's main space elevator before reinforcements from Jura arrived. For about two years afterwards government forces would make small gains, being restrained by the difficulty of interstellar transportation at the time, whilst Cambrian forces mainly started engaging one another. Clashes between opposing ethnic forces being particularly deadly, with large scale atrocities being committed as the conflict raged on. In late 238 the tide would turn, as the government, hard-pressed to recapture Cambrion's vital food production on which Jura depended, deployed two new revolutionary weapons of war: battle droids and orbital bombardment. The former mitigated the manpower issue as droids could be produced locally, whilst the latter was often sufficient to pressure foes into surrender. With a lightning offensive the following year the planet was rapidly reclaimed. The conflict ended in early winter as the Cambrion Salvation Front lost its last urban holdouts.

The conflict would culminate in a strengthening of central authority on various UTC colonies and the banning of large scale, unauthorized genetic programs. The conflict would still drag on for several decades after the main hostilities ended, with these decades being known as the Bleeding Years. Ethnic violence remained prevalent, with both groups distrusting central authorities as championing the interests of the opposing group. The bleeding years only ended once the continuing influx of migrants made those involved in the conflict a minority, at which point the conflict was gradually deserted and the Bleeding years ended.