The pallbearers called humanity’s survivors to the fields of Nova Alva and began repairing and supplying the starships with the necessary implements to carry them off planet Earth.

At the same time, the Green Teilate Party emerged as the major force encouraging people to stay. The Green Teilate party renounced science, claiming that man had caused the Earth’s ills and brought about her misfortune. They advocated a return to agrarian principles, and discouraged travel, offering Earth time to heal from the destruction wrought by hundreds of years of industrialized society.

It was inevitable that the two sides would fight over Earth’s remaining resources. In the war that followed, the pallbearers sought to provide safe passage for those who wished to adhere to the original plan, while the Green Teilate Party fought to keep them from reaching the fields of Nova Alva.

The pallbearers decided that they could not defend the west coast of Malvada and abandoned Arlat, the ward of genetics. The Green Teilate Party filled Lake Malcherest to seal Arlat away from visitors and abandoned it to the mists of time. The largest, longest, and deadliest battle was for Los Lewr, the ward of matter, and resulted in the creation of the Pyratine River. Los Lewr was assumed lost. The final conflict of the empty war took place on the fields of Nova Alva, near Birrigat. Although the Green Teilate Party was victorious, the pallbearers were able to launch sixteen starships. Each ships was built to hold between two and thirteen thousand people, but the Talevala does not document how many were able to board the ships or the attrition rate that followed due to wounds and the uncertainty of space travel.

The pallbearers who were unable to escape on the starships fled across the Great Desert Bath to Chalcis.