Dark Ages of Xyon

The Dark Ages of Xyon (4351–2320 BXU) were a period of extensive governmental oppression, political corruption, and worldwide enslavement all at the hands of the Iconians, the violent sub-group of the Xai. They had taken over the major governments of Xyon, and used their military superiority to crush any resisting forces on the planet. The Iconians ruled the planet with an iron first for more than two thousand years, using superior strength and intellect to hold onto power despite their numerical inferiority for most of the period. The Dark Ages came to an end in 2320 BXU when the first Changed male, Ocracoke the Great, led an army that destroyed many of the Iconian-governed kingdoms, and forced them back into the Iconian Mountains, where they had come from.

Regarded by many Xai as a period of darkness and pain, the Iconians view it as a golden age, where for a period of time, they ruled supreme and led Xyon through many of its technological and cultural breakthroughs. The period of time saw the creation and utilization of sardonikium and nullium, two materials that have since become the cornerstones of Xai civilization and technological power. Also, many of the military systems and equipment used by the Obsidian Guard, originated from the armies of the Iconians during the Dark Ages. Finally, many of the Xai cultures that exist today, originated directly after the fall of the Iconian kingdoms. Many of the Xai own the existence of their cultures to the Iconians who had their hand in creating them.

Today, many history books continue to refer to the period as the Dark Ages, though Iconian worlds never use the term, and always refer to it as the Golden Age of Xyon. Needless to say, many Xai are angered by the Iconians' refusal to acknowledge its status as a dark period in the species' past, and along with the many other issues surrounding the Iconians, the Dark Ages simply add yet another layer of spite against them. A notable fact of the period is that nostalgia for a return to the period by the Iconians saw the waging of the Xyon Civil War, in which the Iconians sought to wrest control from the government of the Xai Ascendancy, but failed in the end. It goes without saying that it did little to endear them to the rest of the Xai.

Legacy
"One one side of the aisle, you have the majority of Xai who agree that the Dark Ages were terrible, awful times of darkness. On the other, you have the Iconians who consistently point out all of the scientific, economic, and cultural developments of the period that have shaped our society to this day. What say me, the poor politician caught in the middle? I say we should just get over it and focus on the war with the Elysians."

- Malakai Madora

Following the defeat and destruction of the once massive Iconian empires, Xyon descended into a period of chronic economic depression and global warfare, a true period darkness as the Iconians have since been quick to point out. While the Dark Ages and the period of recession that immediately followed it had their periods of gloom and are both agreed to have been depression eras, a few Xai capable of swallowing their pride (amongst other things), have been able to acknowledge that the period was a time in which the Xai made some of their most important advancements, such as the proper utilization of sardonikium and the creation of nullium, and the safe harnessing of nishatium as a power; none of which could have been possible so quickly without the economic and political support of the ruling Iconian leaders and tyrants. The development of PsiTech was spearheaded and patronized by none other than Vespa Icona herself.

In all honesty, as frank and unwelcome it may be, the Xai owe most of their culture and power to the industrious and unrelenting determination of the Iconians. Without much of the knowledge gained from the Dark Ages, Xai society as it exists today–as a high-tech, space-faring hyperpower; would not exist, or at the very least be hinder by many centuries of technological backwardness. Compared to the warfare and ineptitude of the Age of Tribulation that came after it, the Dark Ages do not appear to have been all that "dark" in a sense. The period brought forth pains that the majority of Xai didn't enjoy or wish to revisit, but given that it encouraged innovation and development on a level that was lacking in the following two thousand years or so, the Xai have awkwardly nodded in a agreement with the assessment of the period, grudgingly so that is.

Nostalgic Iconians who read of the period in history books and novels have often attempted on many occasions to force the government to permit Iconians to play a larger and stronger direct role in the development of Xai society, even going so far as to use force of arms. The Xyon Civil War, led by prominent Iconian generals of the Obsidian Guard (of which one particular Kiman Madora was apart), governors of Xai worlds with large Iconian population within the Ascendancy, and like-minded Xai who agreed that the Dark Ages weren't all that bad, saw the Iconian armies pour across the Ascendancy in an attempt to overthrow the government and establish a xantih dictatorship that would return things back to the way they were during the Dark Ages. Though they ultimately lost, and painfully so, the conflict prompted the government to hastily grant the worlds colonized by the Iconians much more freedom to dictate local policies, and granted the Iconians a greater role in the government of the Xai, though it did lead to the creation of the Verberan Corps and the construction of hundreds of military starbases around Iconian space as a result.

In the end, it can be stated with no mistaken beliefs that the Dark Ages were more complex than the Xai would like to believe. Though it did have its overwhelming share of failings, and did see nearly 70% of the population forced into slavery at the hands of the Iconians, it also brought forth economic growth, industrial expansion, military innovation, scientific advancement, and cultural blooming, all of which the Xai unknowingly (or at the very least unwillingly), take for granted as purely of their own doing. While this has left 30% of the race without proper credit for their contributions to the development of their civilization, their exist many Xai leaders who secretly bequeath their approval of the Iconians' contributions to the race, and have made many attempts, albeit silently, to bring true social and cultural acceptance of the Iconians as equal members of their own species, despite their many past crimes.