The Great War
The Great War was a brutal military conflict lasting from 1233 to 1240 between the Kingdom of Pallas and the allied force of the Grand Republic of Libertia and Empire of Kyotai. It was perhaps the largest war to be fought in the Age of Restoration. The war was the result of the butting heads of three rapidly expanding great powers. The Empire of Kyotai had been on a century-long conquest of northern Karthica and had captured the Kingdom of Viscovy and the domain of Swenmark by 1233. The Grand Republic of Libertia had consolidated its member states during a war against the Green Orcs in their southern lands, while their capital of Braevin City was experiencing a revolution in both industry and societal norms that threatened to outpace the rest of the world. The Kingdom of Pallas, which had united over 60 years prior from numerous smaller kingdoms, was under the sway of a charismatic and ambitious king, who had repeatedly pushed the Republic with skirmishes over territory in the Iceridge Mountains.
Cause of the War
The seeds of war began as the Empire fought against rebellious Cossacks in the south of Viscovy. King Ethar of Pallas, who had long argued for the threat the Empire and Republic posed to Pallas, demanded that his liege lords come to Sardoron to pledge their levies for war against the Kyotese. However, the idea of war was unpopular amongst the noble houses of Pallas, and only the lords of Ashenmont and Nurem answered the call. Seizing this moment to bypass his vassals, Ethar decided to take his personal entourage of knights and retainers, and embark on a kingdom-wide tour, now known as 'The King's Call'. Ethar made sure that he visited every village, town and city in his kingdom, where he was already very well admired by the commoners, and with each visit, his entourage grew as he spoke to all of his subjects of his requirement of them to defend their home of Pallas. By the time he reached his final destination of Brembach, over thirty-thousand were with him. The lords of Pallas were powerless to dampen Ethar's ambitions as the King declared this host his Royal Army. From 1232 to 1233, Ethar's army was drilled rigorously in the arts of combat and war, while his stewards rode across the kingdom to petition his vassals until they could no longer ignore the impending war without being branded traitors. A further sixty-thousand from all corners of the kingdom rode to assemble with the Royal Army, and in 1233, as the Kyotese began to field their forces in the south of Viscovy, the Pallatians attacked. Relations between Pallas and Libertia had never been positive. Both are formative unions of smaller kingdoms and duchies that have difficult histories with one another. But as the Republic bore witness to the strength and will the King's Call mustered, parliament began to panic. Desiring to supress a threat to their north, Libertia prepared for war. Instrumentally, they agreed to an alliance with the Kyotese when the imperial diplomats approached them two years into the war in 1235. King Ethar was now fighting a war on two fronts as Libertia's army marched into Pallas from the south and besieged Castle Saffron.Progress of the War
The story of the war would be told through its battles, of which there were many. In the first few years, the Pallatians exploited their knowledge of their homeland's terrain to handily defeat the Kyotese repeatedly. The imperial forces in Pallas were mostly made up of soldiers from their conquered territories - not the fierce soldiers from the Inner Nation who had conquered them in the first place. They were inexperienced, unmotivated and poorly equipped - no match for the fanatically loyal Pallatian knights and men-at-arms. But as Libertia entered the war and captured key castles and towns in the south, Ethar was forced to divide his forces. From 1235 to 1240, no side would make significant ground. The Republic's bloodiest battle was fought over the city of Volk, which was so devastated by the fighting there that it would be abandoned after the war. Meanwhile, the empire fielded finer quality troops to the battlefields in the north. Pallas was able to hold thanks to the mobility of Ethar's host, which would march up and down the kingdom to support each garrison where needed. The alliance decided therefore to devise a trap to eliminate the Royal Army decisively, and perhaps even kidnap Ethar himself, to bring an end to the bloody war. A weaker Libertian force encircled Etharsberg, which was intended to lure Ethar in defence of a city renamed in his honour. It worked, and the Royal Army arrived to retaliate. As the Pallatians commited their forces into the city, a second hidden Libertian force that had crossed the Olga further downriver approached with the intent of hitting them in the back. Ethar, who was accompanied by the majority of his liege lords, ordered the army to retreat. The focus of the Great War has often been upon Libertia and Pallas, yet the Empire of Kyotai was instrumental inThe Conflict
Outcome
With the death of King Ethar, the kingdom of Pallas formally surrendered to the allied forces of Kyotai and Libertia. In the south, Castle Saffron, Nurem and Sardoron were occupied by Libertian troops. In the north, Northstad was occupied by the Kyotese. However, this occupation did not last long.
Libertia
Aftermath
The Great War has devastated Pallas. Though Pallas had been simply an assortment of rival duchies until seventy five years ago, the region has been left virtually decimated in all senses of the word. Damage from the war is most extensively found in central and north-western Pallas, particually the arid city of Volk - which devolved into urban warfare between Libertian and Pallatian forces and changed hands nearly daily - and has since been abandoned and consequentially occupied by kobolds. Etharsberg has ended up in a similar state. Northstad resisted Kyotese siege assaults and bombardment for over a year, and still struggles to rebuild.
The real devastation was inflicted upon the people of Pallas. In one fell swoop, the king and many of his senior ruling lords were annihilated in the Maelstrom Event. The kingdom collapsed as foreign soldiers marched into the last defenders' strongholds, as their king perished. The kingdom was gone. The wilderness and roads became dangerous. Famine set in. A plague struck. Many villages became ghosted. As the black vortex of the Maelstrom hung over Pallas, superstition gripped the struggling people - that the gods themselves had struck down King Ethar for his arrogance... or out of jealousy. Either way, the Faith of the First Gods has grown to fill the void that Ethar left behind.
Conflict Type
War
Battlefield Type
Land
Start Date
1232
Ending Date
1240
Conflict Result
Victory for Libertia and Kyotai over Pallas
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