Long Winter

The Long Winter was the twenty-year period in Orion history that followed the Atom War.

The detonation of alien nuclear weaponry on Botchok in the Atom War of 12,237 BCE heavily damaged the planet and lead to a nuclear winter. During this time, the master races of the Orions all but abandoned Botchok, suspending proxy warfare and using their offworld supplies of slaves for breeding. They made no effort to help those on the planet, considering it a waste of resources as Orions were born merely to fight and die anyway.

The Long Winter officially came to an end in 12,217 BCE (reference stardate -142/17); by this time, Botchok's population level was only 20% of what it had been before the Atom War.

The reconstruction of Botchok, however, would not begin for almost another thirty years.