To understand the war of the west, we have to go back to the year 524 during the age of war. At this time the people of earth had been fighting for their Vesajan gods for more then a century. (see: the god wars*) In the westlands Ark-aal was in total control, but there was another that was growing in popularity: Arnethius . The strong fire mage, ascended by Ark-aal and his most important pawn in the godwars, was getting so powerful that he could soon match the power of his master. Ark-aal feared his dominion was being threathened and decided that he had to go. A failed attempt on the generals life led to the The rebellion of Arnethius , who now amassed a following of his own. The 2 armies fought over control of the Westlands, and in the end Ark-aal stood victorious. He did not forgive those who betrayed him, and sentenced them all to death. A genocide followed, cleaning the whole west from all the arnethians. Only Liox , the last refuge for the arnethians, was left standing when Aethos banned the Vesaja from earth, ending the godwars and the prosecution. While once they were the same people, the west would always remain divided.
Now with the war over, Liox evolved to be a thriving city with an exploding population growth. They soon found out that the rocky environment would not be able to provide enough food for much longer. The opened mines provided more iron than they would ever need, so a port was opened to open up trading routes for the importation of food, and exportation of iron. It was painfully clear that nobody wanted to have anything to do with the arnethians, unless the trade was heavily balanced in their favour. The arnethians had no choice but to accept. They started referring to themselves as Lioxians, in an attempt to stop the discrimination and to distance themselves from their former leader. But to no avail, they remained the dirt of the west. They tried to become less dependant on foreign import by working the few fertile lands they had as efficient as possible, which temporary worked. Slowly but surely the nationalism, and pro-war mentality in Liox was growing. In the year 1066, while having secretly preparing for it for years, Liox declared war on Arkalon .
In the following years it quickly became obvious that Arkalon would not be able to withstand the Lioxian advance. Liox was born in war, and that mentality clearly remained during the years of peace. Arkalon was also a big nation to defend, and the seaside province which bordered Liox mostly consisted of farming lands. Arkalons army was also not as equipped as their opponent, as they did not have as much iron. Liox advanced quickly, extending their borders and plundering the villages they came across. Arkalon called for help from their allies to the south. Amthal* and Durval*, the 2 nations to the south of Liox, feared that when Arkalon would inevitably fall, Liox would attack them next. Even the two of them combined would not be able to halt the warmachine that Liox came to be, so they decided to act now and attacked from the south. While the combined forces of Arkalon, Amthal and Durval were not enough to defeat Liox, it was enough to stop the advance. The stalemate stood for decades, with neither side able to deal the finishing blow. Allthough there were short periods of peace, an agreement would never be struck.
A man was on the rise: Bernor Dahlvos was gaining populatity and power, mostly because of his dealings with the Southern crown, across the sea of trades. Liox was getting dangerously rich with gold and slaves. This did not go unnoticed, and Durval started with the construction of the Outland gates . Guarding these islands would lenghten the Liox-Southern crown traderoute by atleast 8 times. By the time it was done however, it was too late. The Lioxian morale was higher then ever before, and their army had sized up tremendously.
Erhan Dahlvos , general and later Master-general of Liox, had a plan. After decades of war he knew the enemy now could size up the strenght of their forces quiet accurate.They probably also knew how many soldiers are recruited each year. His plan was to fake ramping down the war effort, and keep their true army size unkown by the enemy by stationing and training them far from the capital. This also included poor maneuvering and losing battles on purpose to give the illusion that their enemies were winning. Liox was losing ground quickly, but it was all calculated. In secret, contact was also made with the pirates of the Rei-do-Kaan clan . They had no allegiances to anybody but themselves, and often found themselves also in conflict with the southern kingdoms; their main target to plunder. Liox paid them a immeasurable amount of gold to mobilize the entire fleet towards Amthal and Durval. Certain of the incoming attack, both Amthal and Durval started to withraw their forces from the Lioxian border. The whole capital was ready for naval war when they saw the Rei-do-kaan fleet make a U turn, before dissapearing from the horizon. Before realising what just happened, Liox had gathered their massive army and collapsed on the southern border, pushing it back across the river. In a day they advanced further than they had in 56 years. With the help of the river and cliffs, Liox reinforced the border. With little manpower they would from now on be able to defend from the south. Amthal and Durval knew that the human cost of breaking that barrier would be enormous, and would leave them too vulnerable for invasion. Unable to advance on land they now focussed all their resources on defeating the Lioxian fleet. Liox however anticipated this and was not dependable on their fleet anymore. The plan had worked and now Liox is, just like in the beginning, gaining ground on Arkalon. They know that when the seaside province falls, Arkalon will have trouble to provide for their population. And if Arkalon falls, Amthal and Durval are also for the taking.
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