| “ | Rocky outcroppings punctuate fields of tall grass in a planet dominated by misty highland terrain. | „ |
| ~ Official Description |
Varylia 5 is one of the seven planets that reside within the Trigon Sector. The planet was unremarkable until it was discovered that the Automaton's were building a massive factory on the planet, which the Super Earth Armed Forces were able to capture and modify into a second Morgunson Arsenal; used to build the new EXO-49 Emancipator Exosuit.
Topography[]
Varylia 5 is a planet covered in barren grassy plains and rocky hills, blanketed by perpetual fog and prone to torrential rainstorms. Due to it's distance from Super Earth and it's previously hostile nature, Varylia 5 was sparsely populated and even more sparsely defended even before the outbreak of the Second Galactic War. As a result, it was captured by the Automatons early, only being liberated in the first phase of operation swift disassembly.
However this has not been the first time that the planet has felt the bootstrap of socialist tyranny as one hundred years ago, the planet was one of the many occupied by the cyborgs. Back then, Varylia was a very hostile world, plagued by a scorching environment, plagued by geological instability which caused mantle to bubble up from the planets core to create seas of magma that cover most of the surface. Even so, the parts of the planet that weren't covered in lava were incredibly fertile, with some supporting small islands of vibrant green plant life in the form of shrubs and grasses. Some Helldivers even reported burned trees and the bleached skeletons of animals, perhaps suggesting that Varylia 5 was not always so inhospitable.
Never the less, following the end of the first war, the Ministry of Expansion gained oversight over the planet and began terraforming efforts. After a century of terraforming efforts, the planet has become a lot more hospitable and geologically stable, with environmental conditions now similar to Draupnir and Matar Bay. The redirection of ice comets to cool the oceans of lava has created not only large contents of rocky basalt, but also created huge bodies of water which allowed for more plant life (and regular humans) to thrive (had the first colonies not been blown up by rampaging socialist toasters who then built their "Petafactory" on the ruins, polluting the planets once pristine atmosphere).
Never the less, the planet still stands as a testimony to humanity's ability to tame even the harshest of planets.
History[]
Special Military Operations[]
Automaton Invasion of Cyberstan[]
Varylia would be one of the first planets to fall to the red tide that arrived during the initial invasion of Cyberstan. It would be defended successfully on April 25th, 2184, but would then fall to a second assault on May 20th.
Second Galactic War[]
As the war developed, Varylia would remain relatively safe, untouched by the mechanical scourge even when left unattended amidst the Disaster of Meridia, which shook up things in the Automaton Front and forced vast amounts of troops and material away from it.
It wouldn't be until after the declaration of the Second Galactic War that Varylia, having been left underdefended, would tragically fall to the cybernetic menace. This time, the robots would show their true plans for the planet, as they would bring their previously interrupted plans into fruition. Super Earth Intelligence scan revealed that a megafactory, called the "Petrafactory" by enemy transmissions was at the advanced stages of its construction, with goals for it still unknown. Analysts noted a particular resemblance to the Morguson Armories in Tien Kwan, which could indicate that the robots, sapping the cunning and hard work of the citizens of Super Earth as usual, had decided to undertake the endeavor of creating superweapons of unknown nature.
Operation Emancipator[]
With time running out, Super Earth High Command, shortly after the failure of Operation Freedom's Calling, would issue a major order for the immediate liberation of Varylia 5 and its "Petafactories", in order to repurpose them for the mass production of EXO-49 Dual-Autocannon Emancipator Exosuits. No sooner had the first SEAF standard issue boots set foot on Varylia 5's soil then did fresh intel warn of an increased level of Automaton resistance, likely a last-ditch effort to forestall their inevitable defeat.
The Bloody Siege of Varylia 5 Fan Made
Never the less after a day of some of the heaviest Automaton resistance in the war so far (5%), the Helldivers had managed to make a foothold on the planet for the Super Earth Armed Forces, though were unable to push forward much further. However it was then that the Ministry of Intelligence reported that spore activity on the Meridian Supercolony had abruptly increased within the last 24 hours, with sudden Terminid outbreaks occurring on previously-safe planets as a result (yet more evidence of a Bug-Bot conspiracy). One such planet was Angel's Venture, which if overrun would result in the loss of the valuable, newly-constructed SEAF Training Facility on the planet, which will significantly decrease the capability of the Super Earth Armed Forces to aid in galactic defense.
Thus Super Earth High Command recommended the prioritization of the defense of Angel's Venture over the offensive on Varylia 5, with the Helldivers being redirected to the planet. After Angel's Venture was saved, the Helldivers returned to Varylia 5 where the Automaton resistance had been worn down significantly (from 5% to 3.5%). On May 26th, 2184, the planet was liberated from the toasters' grasp. When the first Super-Earth engineers arrived at the Petrafactory, it was discovered with great horror that the working conditions were abhorrent (even by Bot standards), with millions of cramped Automaton drones working endlessly in an unsafe factory environent to produce weapons for the Socialist war machine. Well-compensated Super-Earth engineers, as of this writing, are hard at work retrofitting the Petrafactory to produce Emancipator Exosuits.
Operation Liberty Crush[]
Varylia 5 would not remain under Super Earth's embrace for long. shortly after Operation Emancipator concluded, Operation Enduring Peace commenced on the Eastern Front in order to put an end to the Meridian Supercolony Crisis, which had spread beyond all tolerable thresholds. As the war progressed into June, Varylia's defenses would remain pulled away from their garrison and into other operations, which allowed the Automatons to launch an assault on the planet and retake it in the early weeks of July prior to Operation Xzar Lockdown.
However, not all would be lost for Varylia. Shortly after their victory at X-45 during Operation Starslayer and Operation Andromeda, the Automaton Front would be severed in half, with the occupying bot garrison in Varylia being cut off from their supply line to Cyberstan. Immediately, the order was given to recapture all of the planets within the encirclement zone, which opened the way for Varylia's liberation. As Operation Righteous Expunge forced the tin man's fist out of its forward bases at Charbal-VII and Choepessa, scattered fighting began to take place in Varylia, as Helldivers returned to support what little resistance fighters they could. However, the real battle for Varylia 5 would begin on July 29th, once Vega Bay had been retaken from the Automatons.
The battle would be fierce and lengthy, requiring the entirety of the day of July 30th. Progress was slow, and the newly installed Automaton Orbital Cannons made it more difficult to support the ground efforts. But nevertheless, the Helldivers came out victorious over the socialist machines, successfully expelling them off Varylia on the afternoon of July 31st.
Tormenta de Fuego Offensive and Crew Downtime Adjustment[]
As the SEAF pushed the Automaton further north-west, Varylia 5 would remain behind the lines for around eight months, until the Automatons launched a large-scale offensive led by the recently formed 
Incineration Corps during the latter half of March 2185. The Helldivers fought valiantly, but the underhanded opportunism of the Automatons allowed the enemy significant gains; with the ultimate strategic goal being to seize old industrial assets in the Severin Sector, where the Automatons first emerged.
Varylia 5 would fall to the Automaton advance on the 21st of March after a day of fighting. Fortunately the loss of the second Morgunson Arsenal did not hamper the production EXO-49 Emancipator Exosuits to any notable degree. If the rampaging socialists had any intentions of converting the Morgunson Arsenal back into a Automaton Petafactory, then their designs would go unrealized as the Helldivers would return to liberate the planet on their way to capture Wezen on the 8th of April.
Operation Jet Crusade[]
Varylia 5 would sit in relative security, despite being next to Choepessa IV. But it was not fated to last. On June 3rd, 2185, the 
Automatons led yet another attack on the planet, destroying homes and ravaging the colonies. However, the 
Helldivers were too preoccupied dealing with simultaneous attacks on Curia and Borea, leaving the planet mostly alone. However, the situation on Varylia would slowly turn around. As the defenses at Curia and Borea were won, more Helldivers pivoted towards Varylia 5 as soon as they were able, making exponential gains as they rushed to catch up with the Automaton advance. With only 3 hours left before planetary defense collapse, the Helldivers would successfully secure Varylia 5, dealing a heavy blow to the robotic tyrants.
Operation Drydock Lockout[]
While the main bulk of Automaton forces targeted Claorell, smaller detachments struck both Varylia and Julheim at the same time. Bereft of any meaningful support due to target priority, Varylia fell to the socialists on noon of June 16th.
Operation Capitalized Industry[]
Strategic Opportunity: Jolly Workhands[]
On September 16th, Decrypted Automaton communications would reveal the existence of a secretive mining operations underway on Mintoria. With Outpost Alpha in need of both resources and technology for repair and improvement, as well as the bots blatant and illegal usage of tech patented by Federation mining contractors, 
Super Earth High Command would declare a new Major Order, calling the Helldivers to liberate the Ultramafic Mine on Mintoria.
In the meantime the jolly workhands of our weapons manufacturers were eager to help strike back at the Gloom. However, no currently available materiel could be spared to facilitate their proposed increase in productivity. Fortunately High Command was able to locate two alternate sources of materials.
Firstly the still occupied Varylia 5 was home to the original Emancipator Exosuit factory, with underground storage bunkers on the planet possibly still containing Exosuit parts. Secondly the surface of Choepessa IV was still bestrewn with exploded and unexploded ordnance from the first Galactic War, which could be repurposed into Orbital munitions. Thus on the 18th of September, the Helldivers were ordered to liberate one of these two planets, in order to secure materials for our indefatigable working heroes’ extracurricular initiative...
... or that was the plan laid out by Super Earth High Command. The Helldiver Corps -- devoutly focused on the eventual liberation of the whole galaxy as it is -- was currently laser focused on the battle of push towards Zefia and the push towards Mintoria. Nowhere near enough Helldivers would on Varylia 5 or Choepessa IV to make any real progress towards liberating either planet.
By the 21st of September, neither Choepessa IV or Varylia 5 had been liberated. With no additional materials procured for the weapons manufacturers' extracurricular armament initiative, Super Earth High Command called the minor operation off. For now, the workers‘ hands will remain tragically idle while off the clock, and weapons production will proceed according to schedule.
Operation Calamari Damacy[]
Strategic Opportunity: Jolly Workhands II[]
Although the previous attempt to implement the Jolly Weapons Workhands’ Extracurricular Initiative was less than successful, Super Earth High Command recognized that to strike at the Gloom, our arsenal must be augmented. On September 26th, they once more called for the liberation of Varylia 5 to secure old weapon materials for our stout-hearted citizens to turn into brand new exosuits.
Additionally, rather than call for the liberation of munitions on Choepessa IV again, the Federation's attention would be drawn to Oasis as there were signs that the 
Illuminate are storing Dark Fluid on the planet. If the stockpiles could be seized, they can be used to create additional Warp Packs. Only one of these initiatives could theoretically be prioritized during this time, but in the end the majority of the Helldiver Corps would focus on the push towards Karlia.
A small but determined force of several thousand Helldivers would deploy to Varylia 5, attempting to secure the planetary capital of Sequim in order to access to the second Morgunson Arsenal. Unfortunately these efforts whilst valiant would be in vain as the city would not be liberated in time to satisfy High Command.
By the 28th of September, with no additional materials procured for the Jolly Weapons Workhands’ Extracurricular Initiative, Super Earth High Command would declare the strategic opportunity lost. Weapons production would proceed according to schedule, without beneficial increases in scope, and Helldivers previously deployed to Varylia 5 would return to the Illuminate front -- allowing the Automatons to retake Sequim with minimal resistance from the S.E.A.F.
FTL Lines[]
- Choepessa IV
- Ustotu
- Wezen - Ymir Sector (Established on April 18, 2184)
FTL Timeline[]
- February 8th, 2184: Varylia 5 is connected by FTL to Choepessa IV and Ustotu.
- April 18th, 2184: New FTL line to Wezen is established.
Trivia[]
- In Helldivers 1 there is also a planet called Varylia 5, however it was a lava planet rather than a grassy highland one.
- Sequim is a city in Clallam County, Washington State, United States. The city is nicknamed the "Lavender Capital of North America."
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Varylia 5 - Trigon Sector
