Fiction:Gorge Dispute

History
The Gorge dispute has a long and tortured history which finds its roots in the the Franco-Drodo colonization of the Quadrants starting in the 2790's. At a time of relative Rambo withdrawal from Quadrantian leadership in the aftermath of their war with the Galactic Empire of Cyrannus, the colonizers of the Quadrant 82 Neutrality Zone enjoyed great freedom and success in establishing their own markets, spheres of influence, and trade tied to commercial capitals in Xonexi such as Paris and Araveene. They did so with the implicit consent of Rambo Nation, though suffered from vague and uncoordinated relations with them despite repeated attempts to establish lasting ties.

Franco-Rambo Articles of Agreement (2811)
In the 2810's, with the assassination of the beloved Rambo Empress Ramashe Le Rambo and the ascension of High King Rambert Ramveral, Rambo Nation made a forceful return to Quadrantian leadership. Understanding the historical responsibilities, power, and legitimacy of the Rambo within the Quadrants, the French Empire under Emperor Alexandre I and Premier Christian Marier sought to ally the Neutrality Zone with the Rambo monarch's mission to take back the Quadrants while ensuring that it would maintain self-governing status within Rambert's new Quadrantian order. In 2811, they negotiated the ambitious Franco-Rambo Articles of Agreement, whose opening lines bombastically claimed that the treaty governed "No less than the law of nations and the nature of peace in the Quadrant Galaxies for all of coming time."

The Articles of Agreement outlined the relationship of Rambo Nation to the Neutrality Zone, establishing the latter as a separate and unique entity with clearly defined borders and self-governing status. France recognized the guardianship of Rambo Nation over the Quadrants, including the Neutrality Zone, and pledged to do everything in its power to defend that "common peace." It also agreed that it could not carry out military operations within the Quadrants without first consulting Rambo Nation. Conversely, Rambo Nation recognized the limits of its jurisdiction over the Neutrality Zone and the primacy of the Neutrality Zone Treaty Organization within that space. Finally, it agreed that it could not carry out military operations within the Neutrality Zone except with the permission of that organization.

The Articles were hailed as a great success and a masterpiece in penmanship and statecraft, though it is unclear whether the High King fully understood the provisions of a treaty negotiated primarily by subordinates of the previous monarch and meant to bring the Neutrality Zone back under Rambo influence. These treaties were a tool to reassert Rambo primacy over areas which it had previously governed. From that perspective, only the overriding power of Rambo Nation was real. Everything else was fine print.

On their side, the Neutrality Zone states celebrated the document as formally establishing the framework for their relationship with Rambo Nation, and setting clear jurisdictional limits which would avoid conflicts or unwanted interventions in the future.

Rambo Incursion Crisis (2812)
Barely a year later in 2812, these misperceptions as to the implications of the Articles of Agreement would come to a head during the Hutter Incursion War. As the Hutter Kingdom launched an invasion of the Heer Stekeveel territories contained within the Neutrality Zone with the goal of liberating the Heer Stekeveel and annexing them to their empire. Cooperation between France and Rambo Nation in response to the crisis began swiftly as they deployed joint naval forces to secure the northern portions of Ramsoria Run from Hutter encroachment. However, Rambert was increasingly concerned by reports of significant Heer Stekeevel nationalist movements rising up societies of the disparate states of the territory, causing Pro-Hutter unrest. Specifically, reports that Stekius Gaivel, a Heer Stekeveel war criminal and fugitive, was back in the Neutrality Zone spurred him to unilateral action. The High King's deep, visceral hatred of all of Heer Stekeveel as "vile creatures" had a profound effect on his decisions.

Without consulting the French or the NZTO, Rambert exercised what he thought was his right to unilaterally intervene in cases of extreme need, and deployed a Rambo task force with an army in tow. They entered the Neutrality Zone and, with military precision not seen from a Quadrantian state since before the war with the Empire, began seizing Heer Stekeveel planets and settlements and turning them inside out in search of Gaivel.

The total bafflement and outrage from the Neutrality Zone states was immediate and profound. From the perspective of these states, the Rambo had allowed themselves to be convinced by a shred of imprecise intelligence, general ignorance of the region, and deep racist hatred for the Heer Stekeveel to go ahead and not only to blatantly violate the non-intervention provisions of the Articles of Agreement, but to carry out acts of extreme violence against sovereign and legitimate state members of the NZTO. The response from the shocked NZTO was slow in coming initially, but one by one the states of the Neutrality Zone denounced Rambo aggression, urged on by their outraged publics. The French Empire and the Union of Imperial Quadrant States took the lead in demanding that the Rambo withdraw immediately. At the climax, both threatened to use force to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Heer Stekeveel states and the Neutrality Zone as a whole.

The Rambo were stunned. Never in their history had they been opposed in this way, and never in their own backyard. When French, Galactican, and Drodo assets began to converge on his task force, confirming that their threats of force were serious, Rambert withdrew from the Neutrality Zone. In protest, he also withdrew from cooperation with the French in securing Ramsoria Run, refused to protect French shipping, and refused to allow the French military to escort their shipping themselves outside of the Neutrality Zone. Later, he refused to authorize or take part in the French-orchestrated international blockade of the Hutter Incursion force which ultimately put an end to their Heer Stekeveel adventure. He denounced the multi-national naval action, which involved Rambo allies such as the Draconid Imperium and Delpha Coalition of Planets, as an invasion of the Quadrants by foreign forces reminiscent of the Seven Starr Alliance.

Raising of the Gorge (2813-2815)

 * Further Reading: Gorge

In the wake of the Rambo Incursion Crisis, the Rambo government was left with the puzzle of how to contain threats from the Neutrality Zone without actually being able to intervene there. The Rambo had limited access to the wealth of shared information, data, and analysis that Xonexian states thrived off of. From their vantage point, isolated from the Gigaquadrant, the Neutrality Zone and the Xonexi Cluster as a whole appeared to be filled with crises and dangers which the dominant systems and governments were not capable of handling. Rambert's first fear was that these chaotic forces and actors might spill over into the Quadrants. First among these was economic, social, and political trouble in the Heer Stekeveel territories, or local wars between natives on, which the rules and militaries of the NZTO appeared weak and incapable to address. It would fall to the Rambo strength and nobility to protect the Quadrants, contain the Heer Stekeveel threat within Neutrality Zone, and keep the foreigners from expanding their disruptive and destabilizing empires further into the Quadrants.

The Gorge, an ironclad series of fortifications and starbases, was erected around the Neutrality Zone for this reason despite outcry from the civilizations contained within. Any civilian vessels moving out of the Zone into the Quadrants would now be subject to Rambo customs and checks as if they were entering Rambo space. All Heer Stekeveel vessels, whether civilian or military, would be fired upon on sight if they approached the Gorge. This policy would later be dampened to only include military vessels at the advice of President Valkistair of the New Cyrannian Republic.

However, these incidents which so occupied Rambert's view of the Xonexian world were in reality small disturbances in a sea of tranquility. The core of the Xonexian system had been at peace for eight years by that point, enjoying unprecedented economic growth, relative stability, and harmony. The tragedy of Rambo perceptions of the outside world would continually unravel and baffle them over the course of the Gorge dispute.