The West Selten War, also known as the Girtabelilu War, was an armed conflict that took place in the deep south of the Tyvus Galaxy, and was primarily fought between the Girtabelilu, the aggressors, and the Rosokovo Accords the defenders. The war was a total surprise to most every belligerent, as it had emerged suddenly out of a minor regional flashpoint; the invasion of Kuolbenic space by a large Seltian Tesar horde. What had initially been an Illarian State-led Rosokovo police action to end the incursion rapidly spiraled out of control when the Girtabelilu intervened. Sensing a chance to score a major strategic victory, the Girtabelilu opportunistically launched a surprise attack against the distracted and strained Rosokovo forces by striking the psigate in southwestern Selten. Sudden Girtabelilu aggression changed the character and priorities of the war overnight.
The minor regional conflict had turned into a full-scale war. Girtabelilu offenses succeeded in destroying the psigate, but timely Accords counterattacks and a dogged defence of Rosokovo itself forced the Girtabelilu to retreat to their national space in a days-long running space battle. The grinding defensive phase of the war saw spectacularly destructive space battles force the Girtabelilu navy to abandon core worlds until the final phase of the war centered on a weeks-long siege of the capital Enuma Elish itself. As the Realm regime collapsed, so too did Girtabelilu society on the many still-unoccupied worlds of the Girtabelilu species. Riots and supply shortages claimed hundreds of thousands of lives until a Girtabelilu officer named Appan-Il affected a coup and negotiated peace with the Accords.
Despite its brevity-- the Girtabelilu phase of the war lasted only ten weeks-- the conflict was at least as destructive as the far-longer and far more expansive Concourse Wars, with many dozens of ships and hundreds of thousands of personnel lost on either side.
The conflict changed the geopolitical landscape of Selten. The Girtabelilu destroyed a major gateway with the Aoshtai Galaxy, causing major trade disruptions on both sides of the gateway and isolating Illarian colonies in Aoshtai from their metropole. As well, the Girtabelilu-- a previously noncommunicative and universally hostile polity-- communicated for the first time with the outside universe during the conflict, and after the collapse of the Girtabelilu government in a military coup, a negotiated peace was arranged with the previously shadowy and terrifying Girtabelilu species.
Though costly, the war would confirm the strength of the Rosokovo Accords and the primacy of the Illarian State and her allies over their half of the Selten galaxy. The integration of the newly-founded Girtabelilu State under the rule of dictator Appan-Il would massively strengthen the paper-strength of the Accords' military forces and extend its reach deep into the south of the galaxy.
The speed and violence of this sudden political transition would startle the Kingdom of Adrealis, long considered the great power of eastern Selten, and it is hypothesised that the sudden gains of the Accords inspired the Kingdom's transformation into the New Adresaas Dominion and later the New Adresaas Empire in the months and years to come, culminating in the formation of the Machtenpakt. The West Selten War's consequences decisively changed the political balance in the Selten galaxy and provide the context for its current conflicts.