Draupnir

""Rocky outcroppings punctuate fields of tall grass in a planet dominated by misty highland terrain.""

Draupnir is one of the five planets within the Xzar Sector. Its general landscape is rather grassy and barren, but makes up for it with its poor visibility due to consistently negative weather conditions. The planet is the center of some of the heaviest fighting on the Automaton front, with the battles over it being marked by logistical issues for the Helldivers.

Topography
Draupnir, a simple craggy grassland planet. Most who visit the planet will most likely experience a thin layer of fog, giving a nice atmosphere to it. The landmass of the planet is divided up in to various archipelagos, with few continent sized land covered in mountains.

However when a thunderstorm rolls in, the sky can become covered with dark clouds, only being broke up with lightning. The sound of wind only being silent with a loud thunderclap. And during this time, many may notice a glowing lifeform, swimming through the air, almost majestically. It is unknown as of current date what these creatures are, as they seem to be the only life on this planet.

The War in Draupnir
Once the Second Galactic War began, Draupnir became one of the main staging points for the Helldivers on their way to fight in the Automaton-controlled Severin and Trigon Sectors. The heavy presence of the Helldivers was expected to attract the attention of the Automaton military, although for the first week of the war the planet remained untouched.

First Battle of Draupnir (Feb. 15th-18th)
On February 15th, after a week of fierce fighting in the Severin and Trigon Sectors, Automaton forces launched an offensive into the Xzar Sector with Draupnir quickly becoming a center of attention in this front. With the fighting in the sector, the planet had been on the forefront from day one, seeing some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Helldivers utilized the unique, rough, and uneven terrain on the planet to their advantage, as it helped in slowing down the Automaton's Hulks and Tanks. The terrrain also gave the Helldivers an advantage in terms of cover, letting them fire down on Automaton forces behind rocks, hills, etc.

Draupnir became another focal point in the propaganda campaign to recruit more troops to fight the Automatons as the defense of the planet was shown as the one thing keeping the rest of the sector from falling. And this campaign was successful, as thousands of Helldivers deployed into the planet and quickly managed to liberate it alongside Mantes, although the latter was only liberated for a short few hours before more Automaton forces attacked.

Second Battle of Draupnir (Feb. 19th-20th)
With only one Earth-day of peace on Draupnir, the Automatons yet again launched an attack against the planet just as the Helldivers successfully won the defense campaign on Mantes. As soon as news reached High Command of the attack, a defense order was called for the planet.

The Second Battle is seen as one of the bloodiest for the Helldivers. Due to logistical and manpower issues caused by the Helldivers being caught off-guard, not predicting a counter-attack would come so soon, the Helldivers suffered major losses on the planet, which was not helped by most of the reinforcements being new recruits. And, because of this, the defense order was lost and the Automatons took control of the planet.

"Attention al Helldivers This is an Urgent Message from The 69th Helldiver Division, sanctioned by the Ministry of Truth.

Draupnir has fallen. I repeat, Draupnir has fallen. The Severin and Xzar Sectors are being torn from sweet freedom’s embrace. The front line at Malevelon Creek is collapsing against the relentless onslaught of the socialist Automatons. All forces are to be redirected against the Automaton menace. Failure to spread democracy thoroughly will result in reassignment to a Freedom Center for re-education.

''IT'S TIME TO SPILL SOME OIL"

- Spokesperson of the 69th Helldiver Division

Third Battle of Draupnir (Feb. 20th-25th)
The Automatons used their regained control over Draupnir as a staging point for another attack on Mantes, dwindling the Helldivers' ability to send more troops to retake the planet effectively. This battle saw a reduction of the active troops on the planet, continuing the trend towards making the fighting on it even more brutal.

On February 23rd, Mantes was liberated, and many had hoped this would lead to more reinforcements on Draupnir. But, unfortunately for the Helldivers, the remaining Automatons on Mantes did not retreat into their own territory but instead attacked Ingmar, further delaying Super Earth's ability to send a proper force of reinforcements to Draupnir. Ingmar was rapidly liberated, but another attack was launched on Mantes and this time also on Pöpli IX.

Seeing the progress on Draupnir, Helldivers began prioritizing the liberation of the planet, as it was closer to victory than the other ones attacked. Finally, on February 25th, Draupnir was again liberated, granting Super Earth forces access to Ubanea in the Severin Sector.

Fourth Battle of Draupnir (Feb. 26th-27th)
Yet again the Automatons did not give Helldivers more than a day to rest on Draupnir, and this time it proved important. A massive attack began on Draupnir, and the Fourth Battle of Draupnir became the deadliest (relatively to how long it lasted), as all Helldiver forces on the planet were wiped out within a single day, to the point they, for the first time, lost access to the planet and together with it the entire Severin Sector. The loss of the Fourth Battle of Draupnir became a tragic moment in the war, as the planet was the main point connecting Super Earth forces to the battlefields on Malevelon Creek and Ubanea, but morale remained relatively high as the planet of Mort was fully liberated shortly after.

Fifth Battle of Draupnir (Feb.28th-Mar. 3rd)
A day after the loss of Draupnir Mantes was liberated, giving Helldivers access to the planet again, and thus also to the rest of the Severin Sector, in a major victory for Super Earth. But, at the same time, also a sign of the major losses the Helldivers had suffered. Around the same time the Fifth Battle began, the Helldivers failed with the major order granted to them by high command to win at least 8 defense campaigns against the Automatons, which led to protests by Super Earth citizens calling for a greater effort to fight the Automatons.

On March 3rd, the planet was again lost when Super Earth lost contact with the forces on it following yet another defeat on Mantes. Thus, yet again, Super Earth lost access to the entire Severin Sector.

Sixth Battle of Draupnir (Mar. 4th-18th)
On March 4th, Mantes was re-liberated, and for the last time as of March 15th. This allowed the Helldivers to focus their attention fully on Draupnir for the first time in a while in the war. Upon the beginning of the Sixth Battle of Draupnir, a single division of Helldivers had been deployed on the planet and has consistently fought on it.

On March 7th The planet was used by the Automatons as a staging point for their offensive into the Theseus Sector, where the planet of Tien Kwan, a testing site for experimental weaponry for the Helldivers at the time, is situated. Because of this, Helldiver forces on Draupnir were momentarily isolated, almost leading to the collapse of the planet. But, thanks to the quick defense of Tien Kwan, Helldiver forces were able to rapidly return to Draupnir with new and improved weaponry, although the planet remains a deadly battleground.

On the 15th of March, Malevelon Creek completely fell to Automaton control. In reaction to this, the Ministry of Truth began to call for Helldivers to completely focus their attention on the liberation of Draupnir before the Xzar Sector had to suffer yet another defeat at the hands of an Automaton offensive. "Super Earth Soldiers! The spirit of defiance burns strong within you. The loss of Malevelon Creek is a wound etched deep in our collective memory. We yearn to reclaim that valiant battleground, but true victory demands strategic cunning and unwavering resolve.

The Ministry of Truth urges you to shift your focus to the critical situation on Draupnir. This beleaguered planet hangs in the balance. Reinforcements from your ranks can turn the tide, liberate our fellow citizens, and strike a heavy blow against the Automaton menace."

- u/2WEED, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Truth The Sixth Battle of Draupnir saw wide usage of guerilla warfare by the Helldivers, more than in any of the battles before it. Ironically, thanks to how long they've been fighting over Draupnir, the Helldivers became so familiar with the terrain that the guerilla war waged on the planet was one of the most successful in their history.

By the 16th of March, tens of thousands of more Helldivers deployed into Draupnir in the largest increase of manpower the planet had seen in weeks. By this point, Draupnir became the most important battlefield on the Automaton Front. If the Helldivers were to liberate it, then they could fully focus their attention on Ustotu and Malevelon Creek, where some of the planned reinforcements for Draupnir went instead. Within a day, the liberation percentage went from 20% to ~43%, although the casualty rate for the Helldivers had reached ~13 million. The next day on March 17th, the liberation of Estanu had been completed, bringing full attention to the front lines of Draupnir.

On March 18th, following a sharp increase of Helldiver operations against the Automatons on Draupnir in what became the longest period of fighting on the planet yet, the planet was liberated, letting thousands of Helldivers into the Severin and Theseus Sectors, more than had been seen in weeks.

Seventh Battle of Draupnir (Mar. 29th-31st)
After the longest period of peace on the planet yet since the start of the war, which saw Helldiver forces capture Ustotu and Troost in a swift offensive against the Automatons, Draupnir was again a victim of a surprise attack by Automaton forces. The Automatons, holding a massive amount of firepower, hoped to use Draupnir to split the Helldiver forces who earlier began a campaign into Ubanea hoping to open up the space routes to Tibit, the location of major Automaton factories.

High Command issued a statement to the Helldivers about the new stage of the war against the Automatons, proposing two plans for the Helldivers:


 * 1) "The Defence of Draupnir": Helldivers would divert their attention to defend Draupnir, hoping to do so quickly in order to protect the space routes into Ubanea and Tibit in order to efficiently continue the offensive. This was shown as a smarter choice, but one that was more likely to cost the offensive.
 * 2) "The Ubanea Gambit": Helldivers would focus all their attention on Ubanea, liberate it quickly, and then launch the attack on Tibit while also sending forces to continue the defense of Draupnir. Nicknamed the "Ubanea Gambit", this plan was the one chosen by the Helldivers, who had become famous for their usage of blitzkrieg.

In the end, though, the Ubanea Gambit failed and Draupnir fell, Ubanea following suit. The main cause behind the loss was blamed to be the indecisiveness of the Helldivers in the initial hours after the attack on Draupnir began. The loss of Draupnir and Ubanea led High Command to shed light on the issues of too many Helldivers focusing on the Terminid front and Malevelon Creek, where progress was either way expected to be slow. In the same statement, an order was given to all Helldivers to deploy on Draupnir and open the Severin Sector back up.

FTL Lines

 * Mantes
 * Tien Kwan - Theseus Sector
 * Malevelon Creek - Severin Sector
 * Ubanea - Severin Sector

Trivia

 * Draupnir is named after the golden ring from Norse Mythology of the same name. Draupnir is a magical golden ring from Norse mythology that can create copies of itself every ninth night, symbolizing wealth and abundance.