The cause of the First War was control over the passages. No matter how great their intrinsic value, stars and planets had little practical value if they were not connected by a passage. Most of the wormholes installed in the early peripheral settlements had been constructed and transported by institutions of the central polity. Ownership of the entrances, as well as the authority to open and close them, also belonged to the center. Settlements received people and supplies through the passages, but they could not decide for themselves how long those passages would remain open. The center argued that whoever paid the stabilization costs should hold operational control, while the peripheral settlements countered that autonomy was autonomy in name only if the center could close passages essential to their survival. Both positions were reasonable from their own point of view. The dispute began when one peripheral settlement brought in supplies beyond its authorized quota. When the center restricted the flow through the entrance, the settlement’s autonomous government occupied the local control facility. The center closed the passage, and the autonomous government used force to seize an entrance in another star system. What began as a small battle spread across the galaxy almost at once. During the war, both sides closed their opponents’ passages before attacking their armies. Even in settlements where no fighting took place, supplies of medicine and components for life-support systems were cut off. Even when the side controlling a passage won the battle, the deaths in the place that had lost its passage could not be undone.
The peace agreement separated the authority of the polity that had paid for the construction of a passage from that of the peripheral settlement that depended on it. Registered settlements above a certain size were given the right to participate in decisions to open or close passages. The center gave up its unilateral authority to close them, while the settlements jointly assumed part of the maintenance costs. The agreement did not protect unregistered settlements or those whose populations fell below the required threshold. Extending protection to them as well would have left insufficient resources to maintain every passage. Victory and defeat had been decided, but the question of how far protection should extend was left to the next age.
Another problem emerged while the records of the war were being organized. Reports from different star systems recorded the beginning and end of the same battle in different orders. The peace agreement had allocated responsibility, but it had failed to establish a common time by which responsibility could be judged.