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FOURTH FIRETRUCE (3791)

Humbling the Eagle
Unlike the previous three Firetruces, the Fourth was fraught with tension.

In the decade prior to 3791, the Blood Eagle embarked on an ambitious and controversial series of offensives, seizing territory from what seemed almost every tribe. By the time of the Fourth Firetruce, the "butchers" had almost doubled their holdings, including capturing the key trading world of Bira Marduk from the Gorgon Killers in 3788. By the time of the Firetruce, the lesser tribes were dispirited. The Children of Phoenix and the Gorgon Killers seemed unable or unwilling to contain the Blood Eagle, and the leading independent tribes, the Starwolf and the Diamond Sword, kept their own counsel but did nothing.

Manfred Gregor still ruled as Phoenix Prime. He had become far more Machiavellian in his old age. The events of the Fourth Firetruce would be attributed to his wily leadership, although he took no responsibility whatsoever, though he would occasionally refer to it as the most successful step toward unity yet taken by the Tribes of Man.

The Firetruce was held on the volcanic world of Crucis Stigmata, in the spartan setting of an ash plain far from any established settlements. Crucis Stigmata was located close to the Blood Eagle's new conquests in the McCrae Lattice, and all tribal delegates came heavily armed and prepared for war. Only the maneuvering of the Phoenix Prime made the Firetruce possible in the first place, as several tribes called for its abandonment.

When the Blood Eagle landed, they made a great show of their arrival, complete with a military parade drill and martial music. At the end of their display, a company of riflemen fired a volley of laser fire over the heads--well over--of the Phoenix Prime and his entourage. Many tribals flinched, fearing in that instant a Blood Eagle coup was about to happen, but Gregor sat as though he was carved from stone and graciously welcomed the Blood Eagle contingent. Following the traditional call for unity and the opening speech by the Phoenix Prime, Great Eagle Hector Komarosu openly boasted the Blood Eagle would hold the next Firetruce. These were blasphemous words when spoken to the face of the Phoenix Prime, but Manfred Gregor merely nodded his wrinkled face and replied, "We'll see what happens."

Fortune was not kind to the Blood Eagle. The butchers were defeated in every event they participated in, the other tribes offering them stiff competition, but seeming to cooperate among themselves. Wherever Blood Eagle warriors turned, they faced resistance and a determined unwillingness even to drink alongside them. Had that been the only tribulation the faced, the Blood Eagle surely would have persevered toward their larger goals.

During the negotiation phase of the Firetruce, however, the Starwolf, Diamond Sword, and a host of smaller tribes agreed to an alliance on an unprecedented scale, intending to form an army to strike at the Blood Eagle. The ranks of the Starwolf and the Diamond Sword had swelled in the last fifty years; together with a collection of independents, they constituted a serious threat to the Blood Eagle. If the Children of Phoenix and the Gorgon Killers joined, the Blood Eagle faced almost certain extinction. The Great Eagle accused Manfred Gregor of manipulating this development, but in the end conceded many of his tribe's recent conquests back to the vanquished parties. The Blood Eagle retained the world of Bira Marduk, however, as well as several other rich planets. As soon as Komarosu publicly swore his tribe would abide by the agreed-upon concessions, the alliance promptly dissolved.

The Blood Eagle left this Firetruce angry and embarrassed, but arguably wiser. Since that time, none of the Great Tribes have attempted to embark on large campaigns of conquest that would unite the others against a common foe, though some scholars of war have written that if any tribe were capable of defying the entire wilderzone, it would be the Children of Phoenix.