| “ | A blazing-hot desert planet, its rocky mesas are the sole interruptions to the endless sea of dunes. | „ |
| ~ Official Description |
Zzaniah Prime is one of the five planets that reside within the Gellert Sector.
Topography[]
Similar to Choohe, Durgen, and Mastia.
History[]
Second Galactic War[]
Operation Adamant Resolve[]
Zzaniah Prime was, much like the other planets in the Gellert Sector, a distant colony of Super Earth, far off in the Northwestern galactic fringe, pretty much only being a footnote for Super Earth's colonial administration bureaus. However, this rather uneventful existence also carried with it an unusual peace and freedom into the lives of the few colonists that populated it. And if there's something that Automatons can not tolerate, it's peace and freedom of all kinds.
On October 2184, Zzaniah Prime watched in horror as its neighbors Blistica and Mintoria were invaded by Automaton forces, a threat they had thought distant despite their immediate proximity to the Valdis Sector. Having cut off their few FTL lines in april during the initial robotic invasion, the remoteness of their sector got the colonists and overseers in the planet to become complacent, thinking that the conflict wouldn't reach them.
But on October 30th, 2184, they would be disabused of this notion when a combined Automaton force from Mintoria made planetfall. With time racing, Zzaniah Prime made the call they never thought they would make and called upon the Helldivers for aid, a force that the Gellert Sector hadn't seen in 100 years.
And just like a prayer, the miracle manifested itself as a vast contingent of Super Destroyers heeded Zzaniah's call for aid and began to deploy Helldivers onto the planet. Zzaniah would rebuke its mechanized aggressors on October 31st and its few colonists would reassert their freedom and independence against this new foe.
Operation Iron Rain[]
Following the swift and decisive reaction of the Helldivers to rebuke Zzaniah, it and the rest of the Gellert Sector would see relative peace for nearly the next month. However, the Automatons, in their hateful disposition, would not bear to see prospering and joyful worlds. At roughly 2 AM on November 25, 2184, Zzaniah Prime would once again come under attack, this time from a much stronger invasion fleet of 16 Automaton battalions combined from Blistica and Mintoria. The attack would be well timed with an invasion of Fenrir III by the Terminids.
Zzaniah would be able to hold for 48 hours before its defenses collapsed. Unfortunately, even with the relatively lengthy defense timer, as the then-Major Order asked the Helldivers to exterminate Terminids using machine gun weaponry, coupled with Zzaniah's remoteness and the strong assault on Fenrir from the Terminid Gloom, very few Helldivers would heed the call from Zzaniah Prime, and the planet would be easily captured by the Automatons in the early morning of November 27.
Operation Crop Dust[]
After the fall of Zzaniah Prime, the Automaton Forces came to a standstill, as they could no longer continue expanding. As such, the planet would get stuck in a deadlock as the SEAF Garrison on Zosma, coupled with very sporadic support from a handful of Helldivers, would make some incursions into Zzaniah, but none of it would amount to meaningful liberation.
The situation looked hopeless for the few colonists still left at Zzaniah until, on December 5th, a major order would be issued for the liberation of Blistica, Mintoria and Esker in order to allow for the mass deployment of MD-8 Gas Mines.
Since the closest available planet to Blistica and Mintoria was Zzaniah, it would soon enjoy the presence of up to 10,000 Helldiver Super Destroyers on its atmosphere, all readily deploying in hopes of liberating it and advancing into the target planets.
Operation Wild Hunt[]
Zzaniah's final liberation in December 2184 returned the planet to peace and prosperity into early 2185. The few colonists who established their livelihood amongst the large rolling dunes and puny shrubbery attempted to rebuild what was lost, the Automatons wreaking much havoc across the planet even though they held control of the planet for merely days.
Through January and February 2185, the sandy planet went on quietly along with the rest of its neighbors in the Gellert Sector. As a whole, the Automatons would be deviously quiet in their own right, choosing to rebuild and gather their forces for future offensives. Most Helldiver attention fell to the East and the South in this time, attempting to halt the advance of the Meridian Singularity driven by the 
Illuminate while the Corps also made its first foray into The Gloom on Fori Prime.
In March 2185, all the time the Automatons spent quietly ended drastically, forcing the Helldivers to turn West. Within a 22-hour span between March 1 and March 2, the Automatons launched 4 massive assaults on Meissa, Blistica, Chort Bay, and Claorell. All 4 planets fell brutally, with Claorell luckily being reliberated roughly 2 days after its fall but all 3 prior planets succumbing to the Automaton attacks. Then, on March 7, with the Helldivers making a push toward Vog-Sojoth, the bots sought to detach the Helldivers contingent, dispatching a vicious 15 battalions toward Mintoria. The Corps ultimately was too split, with other contingencies attempting to address Eagle Supply chain issues by liberating Bore Rock while simultaneously trying to defend against a massive infestation sent by the 
Terminids toward Darius II. In the end, Mintoria's defenses were far too undermanned and the bots easily took control of the planet.
Following Mintoria's fall, it seemed Zzaniah's brief 3 month period of peace was on the brink of falling apart. 6 hours after the fall of Mintoria, the colonists' fears became a reality when the Automatons launched 12 invasion fleets toward the planet.
The race seemed to be heading the Automatons' way for the majority of the campaign, as too few Helldivers joined the fight to repel the bots early on. However, with time running out on Zzaniah, the Helldivers finally got support in from the Democracy Space Station's Eagle Storm, halting all Automaton advances on the ground for at least a few hours. As such, the Helldivers deployed to the planet en masse and were able to turn around the situation, fending off the last robots and defending Zzaniah for the second time.
Interim & Full Illuminate Invasion (May 12-May 13)[]
With Zzaniah's defense complete, the planet went on quietly for the next two months as a whole. The war largely avoided the Gellert Sector on the whole, and despite the Automatons still having control of Blistica in the sector, the Helldivers had never made any serious liberation attempts on the planet as they were always forced to turn elsewhere.
While the bots of Blistica and the Tanis Sector largely went on quietly, the Automatons as a whole certainly didn't. Led by their new 
Incineration Corps, the Automatons launched a brazen attack across the West. What were once liberated worlds during Operation Andromeda fell brutally as the Automatons stomped through the Andromeda, Ymir, Trigon, and Nanos Sectors unimpeded, reaching as far as Ingmar in the Xzar Sector. It took a brilliant defense at Pöpli IX to stop the bot advance, the Helldivers heroic as ever in their latest phenomenal triumph.
Following the Automaton defeat, the Incineration Corps disappeared for the next month, retreating in pathetic defeat as they sought to redress their obvious shortcomings. However, they wouldn't be gone permanently. On May 1st, amidst liberation efforts on Claorell, a rebuilt Automaton Incineration Corps was spotted resurfacing on Automaton-controlled Penta. Shortly after, the Corps then moved to Automaton-controlled Lesath and proceeded to use it as a pivot by which they then attacked Vernen Wells and Vog-Sojoth. Further, a third division of the Incineration Corps moved from Lesath to Gaellivare and used it as a launch point by which to attack planet Imber, seeking to cut off Claorell in the process. Unfortunately, the bots were successful in this endeavor after a few tactical miscalculations by the Helldivers, and the then-Major Order failed.
Eventually, some days later, the Automatons and Terminids launched a dual offensive spearheaded by the 
Predator Strain, Incineration Corps, and 
Jet Brigade. Initially, most of the invasions were led by the Predator Strain and Jet Brigade as the Incineration Corps, while active, decided to wait a few days before launching their attacks. The Corps was split into two, with one stationed on Aesir Pass while the other stationed on Clasa. Then, on May 9th, the Incineration Corps on Aesir Pass attacked Curia while the second Corps moved from Clasa to Yed Prior, and then to Zzaniah's southern flank on Blistica.
Whilst the attack on Curia was repelled valiantly, the Incineration Corps in the northern galactic fringe on Blistica was harming the entirety of the Gellert Sector, with both Mintoria and Zzaniah under the threat of an imminent invasion. Strangely, after moving to Blistica on the 9th, the Incineration Corps would make no further moves for the next 3 days, with the Helldiver contingent unable to engage on the planet due to Predator Strain attacks on Sulfura and Krakatwo while the Jet Brigade launched a massive, insurmountably large invasion of Demiurg.
As the next 3 days went by, the Helldivers ultimately failed the Operation to liberate more planets than were lost- though Sulfura, already at 97% liberated at the end of the Order- was eventually liberated about a couple of hours after the end of the Order, effectively bringing a victory of sorts to the Corps. However, the bots at Blistica, after waiting for quite some time, were finally ready to make their move. Just 5 minutes after the end of the Order, Zzaniah's colonial overseer sent an immediate SOS call for aid as the Automaton Incineration Corps made planetfall with a sizable force of 11 battalions.
Following the failed defense of Krakatwo and the successful liberation of Sulfura, a decently strong Helldiver contingent turned up to Zzaniah, seeking to defend the planet for the third time against the bots. For the first 10 hours of the campaign, it seemed too close to call with both the Helldivers and Automatons making significant gains on the ground in a race against time.
The race would change dramatically over the coming hours. 9 and a half hours after the assault on Zzaniah began, the rapidly spreading Terminid Predator Strain began yet another attack on Nublaria I. As such, a significant Helldiver contingent deployed to Nublaria, with quite a few Helldivers leaving Zzaniah's defense to repel the latest Terminid outbreak. As such, the Helldivers lost some speed on the ground, all whilst the Automatons' remained ever consistent with their gains on the ground, befitting of such a soulless, mechanized force. With both defense campaigns hanging in the balance, an event long unthinkable and unexplainable shattered every ongoing operation.
Around 4-5 hours after the attack on Nublaria began, multiple defense satellites in the orbit of the Meridian Wormhole ceased reporting. Somehow, the unfathomable was occurring. The Illuminate, who had disappeared from the galaxy in a full defeat on April 29th, were spotted in an insurmountable, massive invasion fleet. Gargantuan amounts of Illuminate ships appeared within the atmosphere of Widow's Harbor and immediately began a brazen assault on the planet. It was clear that the Illuminate, now with their full invasion fleet equipped with new enemies, was heading right for Super Earth. Seeing this disaster unfold, High Command immediately overrode all previous actions and issued the highest possible State of Emergency. In a chastening briefing sent to all Helldivers, it read that there was no defeating the Illuminate fleet on Widow's Harbor, Pilen V, or New Haven. Rather, the Helldivers had to inflict as much damage as possible to the so-called Great Host, for the fleet was far too large to be defeated at once. The Illuminate Invasion of Super Earth was not a matter of if. It was a matter of when.
With the disastrous, unfathomable developments, all Helldivers in active service and in the reserve immediately deployed by the thousands to halt this vile invasion by the Illuminate. Virtually all Helldivers on Zzaniah Prime and Nublaria I were forced to abandon the assaults by the Automatons and Terminids, knowing that a difficult sacrifice had to be made in the face of the biggest battle seen to date in the galaxy. As such, by nightfall on Super Earth, Zzaniah Prime had fallen to the Incineration Corps, and with essentially all Helldiver presence drained from the planet, the Automatons began to take full control of the world.
FTL Lines[]
- Blistica (Re-stablished on October 28, 2184)
- Mintoria (Established on October 28, 2184)
- Zosma (Re-stablished on October 28, 2184)