Editing Vulpis Canem (section)

===The Long Night===
As the Long Night began, the Vulpis Confederacy started to break apart. The beginnings of this were minor footnotes which only created a clear picture centuries later. As the lights of humanity outside the Confederacy dimmed and extinguished, the planetary bodies became less willing to venture beyond their borders. This new-found xenophobia eventually found its way into interplanetary disputes within the Confederacy itself. Planets were less and less willing to trade with each other. Asteroids and research stations soon found themselves the center of territory disputes that had not occurred in the recorded history of the subsector. Nations within the planets themselves began to break apart and strengthen their borders as protection from each other. Defense satellites once aimed towards the stars began to aim inwardly, targeting rival nations. Wars and armed conflicts began to arise and spread. Vulpis found itself almost completely helpless to stop the madness. Years of ruling symbolically more than practically gave them no real power or authority to prevent conflicts or reignite open trading. This lack of authority also protected it from the majority of the problems the Confederacy faced. With no real power, the various groups and nations fighting for power and dominance largely ignored it.

Their infighting did not go unnoticed by the galaxy around them. Their scientific advancement and largely noncombatant population made them prime targets for various xenos pirates and raiders. Vulpis attempted to move planets towards unity by galvanizing them against a common threat, but it was to no avail. Years of squabbling between nations and planets created an atmosphere of distrust. No one moved to assist their neighbors who were becoming increasingly wracked by raids and attacks from xenos threats. Some went so far as to use xenos attacks on their enemies as distractions for quick territorial gains, only to find themselves the next target for the alien threat. Refugees scrambled towards anywhere deemed "safe." The population of the outer borders dwindled to nothing as the people, government, and equipment retreated to safer lands within the borders of the Confederacy. As the cycle continued, various governing bodies only found more reasons to abandon the more outlying or easier-attacked neighbors. The most common was the idea that so long as the xenos were raiding the outer planets and nations, they were safe. Over a few centuries, far too many planets fell. The remaining planets found themselves horribly overcrowded. Disease and dissent became rampant. Former governing officials would often try to throw their weight around. Some would attempt a coup. Less would succeed. More and more, the Confederacy's members slowly destabilized themselves.

After losing significant outer territory and civilian unrest started to reach critical mass, the green tide hit the Confederacy's Southern planets. The militaries were prepared for fighting among themselves, or defending civilians from xenos raiding, but they were not prepared for a large-scale Ork invasion. They swept the defenses, meant for short engagements against hit-and-run attacks or to protect during border disputes, like a sledgehammer swung at a sheet of paper. Untold billions were lost in the first waves of the attack. The remainder of the Confederacy were wise enough to reform their defenses for the new threat. But it was too little, too late. The best they could do was to slow the enemy down. The humans of the Confederacy learned from each planet, continent, and battle lost to the greenskins. Every attack was slowed down. Few were actually stopped. Every battle won was Pyrrhic as the humans fighting for their lives would find themselves fighting against another group of Orks coming from everywhere mere weeks or months after their victory. After a few short wars over systems the Confederacy finally galvanized against its opponents. They came to find that the only solution to a new invasion was to evacuate the civilians to another planet or system and make the Orks bleed for every meter they took. It was no longer a war for borders, it was a war for survival. Failing that, it was to bloody the enemy one last time before all was lost.