Destruction of Varkhat Province

The destruction of Varkhat Province, later referred to as the Bombardment, was an anti-revolutionary act carried out by the Imperial House Rhych on Kavalk in 2326 as a response to anti-Imperial revolutionary forces seizing control of the province and using it as a base for operations in neighboring provinces. The province was obliterated from orbit by Imperial patrol ships, killing an estimated 48 million people and largely sterilizing the region.

Though the act succeeded in ending open unrest on Kavalk for nearly two years, it is widely considered the proximate cause of the Volkar Revolution, the last and most egregious of offenses committed by the Imperial House Rhych, and was cited by revolutionaries as the greatest motivation for resistance to Imperial rule. The revolutionaries who executed the Imperator in 2328 called for justice for Varkhat Province.

News of the bombardment of the province deeply disturbed Tshakfarhch, Prime Minister of House Lishval, and encouraged him to rush production of House Lishval's stealth destroyer and would cause him to reevaluate his political philosophy. With the destruction of Varkhat Province as a major justification, he would spend the remainder of his life orchestrating the end of the Imperial system.

Tsarhach, the first First Minister of the Volkar Stellar Commonwealth, had a supporting role in the takeover of Varkhat Province, but survived by leaving one day before the bombardment. He would later publicly lament the loss of his comrades and play a leading role in rising unrest before the execution of the Imperator; while working to establish the Commonwealth of Kavalk, he would often refer to the destruction of Varkhat Province to dissuade others from extreme violence.