Beginning - 300 years ago[]
Unrest between the Federation of Man and Arcanic empire cannot be traced to its roots, but one wound was deeper than the rest. A young witch-nun began an affair with an arcanic stone mason and bore a daughter. The Cumaea are supposed to keep their blood pure and preached that arcanics were unclean.
Rather than give the arcanic daughter to her father, the Mother Superior had her killed and her corpse dumped into a box and left at the stone mason's door. The witch-nun who bore the child was also executed. Outrage spread in the arcanic empire, a fury made worse by one last added insult -- the Mother Superior was never punished for her crime.
The prime minister declared the murders a religious decree and therefore outside the jurisdiction of law. It set a dangerous precedent: the Cumaea could act as they wished within federation territory without penalty or oversight. They took that privilege and once taken, it was impossible to wrest it from them.