Sublight Drive (Star Wars)

The Clone Wars. The period commonly referred to as the Clone Wars remains one of the most widely recognized, yet arguably one of the most misleading designations applied to a series of conflicts that shook the galaxy in the second decade following the Great ReSynchronization. In fact, the entirety of this galaxy-spanning conflict only became known as the Clone Wars because of the highly sensationalised opening battle of the war, the 1st Battle of Geonosis, where the eponymous Clone Army of the Republic made their thundering debut onto the galactic stage. As the war unfolded, the label ‘Clone Wars’ proved increasingly inadequate, for the scope of the conflict far exceeded the initial skirmish that had given rise to its name.

The Galactic Civil War. The Separatist Crisis, the Separatist Uprising. The Republic-Confederacy War, the Core-Rim War. The Great Patriotic War, the Confederate War of Independence. The Rimward War, the Liberation of the Rim. The War for the Outer Rim. Across the galaxy, the war was known by different local names, each reflecting the perspectives and experiences of the many factions involved. The conflict was as multifaceted as the societies it engulfed, with traditional rivals fighting on the same side, and erstwhile allies pitted against each other. The war marked the first galaxy-wide war in over a millennium, with shifting alliances and ideologies shaping the course of events as both sides adapted to the rapidly changing realities of warfare. The term ‘’Clone Wars’ may have sufficed in the early days following Geonosis, but it soon became clear that the conflict could not be encapsulated by any single name.

And yet, if one made an attempt to pinpoint the exact moment of time where all of these names would have been accurate, from one perspective or another, it would be in the eighth month of the fourteenth year post-Great ReSynchonization. Known to us as the final Confederate offensive against the Republic, the war had reached its zenith. Operation Storm-Door saw both the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems commit the full weight of their military and economic resources to the struggle, convinced that victory was just within reach. No region of the galaxy remained untouched.

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To the north, the New Territories are under siege by the GAR; in the east the CAF launches a brutal counterattack to recapture their lost territories; in the south Eriadu lays silent a tomb, the entire Rimma Trade Route engulfed in a bloody crusade against the Core Worlds. Indiscriminate bombardment had become a standard tactic, entire worlds put to the torch as punishment for their continued resistance one after another. Both sides, believing their final victory to be imminent, escalated the violence in a desperate bid to bring the war to a swift conclusion. The cost was staggering, and the true number of lives lost may never be fully known.

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A massive, galaxy-wide mobilisation saw every available soldier, from planetary militias and system defence forces to entire national armies, thrown into the front lines. Yet, the true scale of this effort remains shrouded in uncertainty, as the complex and chaotic nature of the war makes it nearly impossible to determine the exact number of combatants. An illustrative example of this dilemma could be seen in the tragedy of Atraken, where an entire star system was consumed by internal strife, leaving billions of lives extinguished in the shadows of history, unrecorded and forgotten. The precise tally of those who fought, and those who perished, may never be fully uncovered.

But that has not stopped historians from making educated guesses.

In 14:8 GrS, the Galactic Republic had mobilised around 5.8 quadrillion servicemen and women into the Grand Army of the Republic, supplemented by an additional 160 trillion cloned soldiers from various contracted manufacturers such as Kamino, Arkania, Khomm, Lur, Columus, and more.

Estimating the ratio between frontline soldiers and rear support personnel–commonly known as the tooth-to-tail ratio–proves challenging, as the blurred lines between military and civilian roles in the wartime economy obscure clear distinctions. For instance, a chartered vessel delivering luxury goods to Chandrila might simultaneously serve as a military contractor transporting heavy artillery to Mimban. Despite these complexities, well-preserved service records allow us to estimate that the number of actual frontline combatants, excluding cloned soldiers, reached approximately 1.2 quadrillion.

On the other side, the Confederacy of Independent Systems is estimated to have mobilised approximately 2.9 quadrillion servicemen and women into the Confederate Armed Forces by 14:8 GrS, spurred by a surge in enlistments following the Militia Act. If the tooth-to-tail ratio of the Galactic Republic's forces was difficult to determine, the Confederacy's was even more elusive due to its decentralised structure and the involvement of corporate interests in grey-area operations. Based on available data, the number of actual Confederate frontline combatants, excluding droids, is estimated at around 900 trillion. The heavy reliance on automation for support roles further complicates these estimates, however.

This figure does not include the numbers from the Separatist Droid Army, for which reliable data is virtually nonexistent. The exact count of battle droids deployed in both combat and support roles remains unknown, given the vast array of official and unofficial factories, many of which are still undiscovered even to this day. While propaganda sources claim numbers in the quintillions, most if not all respected military historians widely dismiss these as wildly exaggerated. More plausible estimates place the number of battle droids between 2 and 5 quadrillion, with the highest reaching up to 10 quadrillion…

– Excerpt from Historia GalacticaVol. 71, by Wottlet Scarsir

Attachment CWY21M06: State of the Galaxy: