Destruction of the Star Lift

The Destruction of the Star Lift was a catastrophic event that took place in 2001 AB. A major space elevator on Yeddo's capital cities was destroyed, making it the catalyst that brought Yeddo into the Virtual Wars.

Background

Several years prior in 1997 AB, the king of Merin was assassinated during a celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Federation of Stellar Systems. This resulted in violence breaking out across Merin as other factions tried to seize the throne. Due to the Federation's perceived inaction on handling the situation, other planets began to secede which led to the formation of the Insurgency.

The Insurgency intended to strike the Federation where they believed it would hurt them the most. After years of careful planning, the Insurgency discretely placed explosive charges all through the Star Lift, a space elevator situated in Port Oraulan, a major populated city of the Federation. With careful timing, the charges detonated at the most structurally integral locations on the Star Lift.

At least 5,000 people were killed with thousands more injured. Vehicles traveling along the Star Lift thankfully had escape pods in the event of an emergency meaning the disaster could have been much worse. However, when the Star Lift collapsed, the debris rained down and destroyed large swathes of Port Oraulan and many nearby surrounding regions. Many of these areas were never rebuilt after the Virtual Wars and were instead designated as part of the Condemned Zone.

The destruction of the Star Lift also resulted in a temporary loss of communication across all of Yeddo as the structure doubles as a major uplink to the vrNet. This resulted in a bandwidth shortage all across the entire planet. The few that was available was mostly reserved for government and military operations. With the Star Lift also serving as a major source of intraplanetary transport, Yeddo was also cut off from imports and exports which led to a massive economic crisis. Yeddo had no choice but to mobilize for war.

Aftermath

The Star Lift was eventually rebuilt after the war with the aid of Virtuoso. Virtuoso's homeworld of Torus was far more technologically advanced than Yeddo and they were able to complete the project in less than two years. The government Yeddo owed massive debt to Virtuoso, but due to the lack of conventional currency on Torus, what Virtuoso asked for instead was to be allowed to set up their own headquarters on the planet and be allowed to advertise their products to Yeddite citizens.

Reception on behalf of the general public was mixed due to how intrusive and aggressive Virtuoso's advertising became. Conspiracy theorists even claimed that Virtuoso was the one that destroyed the Star Lift although there is no conclusive evidence to support this.

As of 2023 AB, the Condemned Zones have not been rebuilt. Due to the increasing presents of criminal activity, the government found it an easier solution to build a wall around these areas to contain their spread while disallowing law enforcement and emergency services from entering those areas. Though Virtuoso has the infrastructure to rebuild them, for whatever reason, they have not chosen to aid in rebuilding the Condemned Zone. It is speculated that it is because of their involvement with the crminal activity in the area, particularly with the illegal cybernephrine trade.

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