During the Locust War, Speyer was one of the COG's few surviving manufacturing centers. After the fall of Tollen Dam, which was the city's sole source of power, COG high command issued a work-stoppage and withdrawal order to its military manufacturing personnel there. Speyer was evacuated, and the COG personnel sent to Ilima for reassignment. Speyer was never re-occupied after the Locust War's end, and remained abandoned for decades.