Military exercises undertaken every three Veran years by the Guardians, using medium-tech weapons and often including space-based actions. The practise Wars last for half a year (sometimes more) and include brutal live-fire episodes which frequently generate considerable casualties. They are fought with extreme ferocity and for a brief time in the colony's fifth and sixth centuries, they threatened to get out of hand and constitute near-rebellions, resulting in the reordering of Guardian leadership and recruitment practices.