First Stage

The First Stage is the name given to the effort to rebuild and re-ecologize Botchok after the devastation wrought by the Atom War and the Long Winter. (It is called that because later on, more attempts to adjust the planet were made.)

The races that were the masters of the Orion slaves left the planet to suffer its own fate in the immediate aftermath of the Atom War (12,237 BCE), but at the 22nd Rigel Conference in 12,189 BCE, the Treaty of Kammzdast was modified to once again permit travel to Botchok. Orions from offworld were imported to the planet to shore up its depleted population, replacing those who had died due to radiation sickness or hunger (80% of the population). The "imported" Orions were every bit as outraged as the "Homeworlders" about what had happened.

The work was slow, however, and not helped by the battles constantly being fought on the planet. In 9143 BCE, the Orions calculated that the planet's ecology would fail in another thousand years if nothing was done about it. Representatives from a dozen nations on Botchok gathered to draft the Accord of Namazz, a plan for reconstructing the planet entirely using Orion resources: money, labor, technology. This was approved at the 59th Rigel Conference and immediately put into practice.

The First Stage came to an end in 7730 BCE. The re-ecologizing of Botchok was not entirely successful, as the planet's terraforming requires adjustment even to the present day, but the planet was almost entirely recovered. Following the reconstruction, the ban on proxy warfare was lifted.

The Book of Tears is a primary source for much of the history of this time.