The Karkovian War of Independence

Karkovia was one of the last few nations to break away from the Vald Empire, and while it tried to do so bloodlessly, that was not to be.   In 3671, a council of ethnic Karkovian nobles declared themselves to be a separate nation. Vald responded by sending troops into Karkovia to put the rebellion down. What followed was a vicious asymmetrical conflict as the Vald general, a bloodthirsty redscale dragonborn named Gargatan tried to simply wipe out everything in Karkovia and more and more people realized they could flee, fight, or die. Early on Gargatan swore that he would give no quarter, accept no surrender, and that Karkovia would become "a kingdom of ashes" and he meant it. His forces killed every living thing the saw and burned everything that would catch fire, torching crops, forests, and structures.   This pushed the population of Karkovia into guerilla warfare against the Vald forces, and Gargatan's armies were harassed night and day by skirmishers, traps, and local monsters defending their lairs. This only stoked Gargatan's hatred, but his letters back to the Vald capital told a different story and so his army was kept well-supplied and reinforced by the empire.   Things came to a head when a risky diplomatic mission slipped past Gargatan's forces and brought news of his genocidal tactics to Vald, who stripped him of his rank and cut him off from funding. Gargatan managed to keep his brutal campaign going for several more years until a hired elven assassin slipped into his tent and killed him as he slept one night. The following morning, his leaderless army was routed in the Battle of Tavic's Hill and chased all the way to the Karkovian border.   Vald, reeling from several other ongoing rebellions and low on funds tacitly ceded the matter to the Karkovians.