The Daebzat Crater War
The war began at night. The Aulvi had given an ultimatum that the Jant had underestimated. The Jester's Blade and a number of other highly trained strike squads from the tranquil shadows and other groups who had fought in the Below attacked, teleporting, infiltrating, or shifting through the walls of the Rune and strength tribes. The first day of the war saw Hundreds of deaths among the leaders of the Jant.
The Strength tribe attemted to do night attacks on the Kolobvol, but that was a dire failure, as the ancestor spirite protect the Kolobvol at night. Not a single ogre or troll that attempted a night raid survived, or was ever heard from again. The strength tribe suffered many losses over the following ten years, and the style of combat of the Jant worked poorly against the hit-and-run tactics of the aulvi. The aulvi also had the advantage of having their civilization near to the oasis. The Jant could not send a prolonged campaign against the aulvi due to the lack of water between the mountains and the oasis. All attempts met with failure, though there were casualties on both sides during these skirmishes. Despite the initial success of the Aulven assaults, their major successes happened in small strikes rather than major skirmishes.
Roughly thirty years into the war, the Kolobvol had a shift, partly due to the birth of their new goddess Gaepyolaenga- Mercurial Maiden , Partly due to the involvement of the Ashanites/The Bluebird's Chorus, and partly due to the impact of the Aulvi, who were sacrificing themselves for the Kolobvol, who they had no prior ties to. The Kolobvol had also, with the advent of their new goddess Mercuria gotten a new ability as a race in the year 39, the ability to take the shape of an aulvinoid (humanoid would be the human term), and the Kolobvol could then wield weapons. They were the forge-slaves of the Jant, and crafted their own weapons, keeping their shifting abilities secret until they struck. The Demon tribe inexplicably surrendered to the Aulvi in the year 40, sending all of their slaves with armed guard to the Aulvi capitol. This was the beginning of the shared city.
With the demon tribe out of the war, the anadi started their uprisings in the year 40, less than a month after the freed Kolobvol from the demon tribe reached the shared city. These attacks were in concert with the aulvi attacks giving the impression of a much larger aulvi force than previously assumed by the jant, and allowing many kolobvol to escape from imprisonment. In the year 41, the sky tribe and rune tribe Jant began a defensive war, while the strength-tribe redoubled their efforts. For the next three years. The Sky-tribe fought a losing, but bloody series of conflicts with the aulvi, refusing to back down like their kin, believing that whichever tribe who won would rise to the godly throne of Gohgbohb Gahghahk-Mountain King. Little did they know, but that was their final mistake. Gohgbohb Gahghahk had been severely injured by En-shanni-Vatti-Brother Shadow in their their divine battle during this same time.
This meant that what divine magic the giants had petered out at this time. Once this was found out, the Aulvi sent raids against the Rune tribe, while the sky tribe sent ambassadors to sue for peace with the aulvi. The Rune tribe would not back down, as they had long been the dominant tribe among the Jant. In the Year 43, the sky-tribe surrendered. The rune tribe then fought a war of attrition, sending out squads to attack Kolobvol and aulvi settlements, despite not havng the forces to defend their own spaces. Unlike the other Jant, Rune Jant could create more by changing otther jant into them, and they began trying to do so among the severely weakened Strength tribe.
This almost doubled their numbers, but caused tension with the other tribes. The other tribes refused to assist the Rune tribe, and the rune tribe refused to surrender. There were no children amon the Rune tribe, so they fought exactly to the last man. That is to say, the high prince. With the king and queen of the Rune tribe dead in the end, after every other rune giant died through two more years of extremely bloody conflict, primarily, on the side of the rune giants. After these seven bloody years, only one rune giant remained. He surrendered to the Jester's Blade who had arrived in their full number to end the war.
The war ended in the year 45, three days before the end of the year.
The Conflict
Prelude
In the ten years leading to the War, the Jant had continued their enslavement of the anadi. The Aulvi , who were establishing their civilization of Gënlèul- Land of Dawn, near to the oasis where they had surfaced in the center of Daebzat. Within a few years, they had befriended the aulvi tribes, and, roughly six years into this endeavor, the aulvi saw the Jant attempting to capture the spider-like Anadi- Kolobvol. The Aulvi prevented this attempt at capture, and for the next three years, spent time researching the reasons and logic of the systematic enslavement of the Kolobvol.
In the year 9, the aulvi sent representatives to each of the leading tribes of the Jant, giving a year-long ultimatum to end the enslavement of the Kolobvol. The Jant tribes of ˈtvo˩nda˩v- the demons, did not immediately respond, and the ˈto˩ta˩z, and ˈtvo˩jto˩j (wood and sand) had never enslaved the Kolobvol, but the three remaining tribes ˈa˩vdo˩g, ˈkva˩dta˩jo˩z, and dza˩b, (rune, strength, and sky respectively) turned down the offer. The 'a˩vdo˩g and ˈkva˩dta˩jo˩z immediately started aggressive actions. The ˈkva˩dta˩jo˩z began attacking kolobvol villages, previously avoided for the inconvenience. The 'a˩vdo˩g began increasing enslavement runs.
The aulvi were not inactive during this time. The Jester's Blade planned battle strategies, while The Tranquil Shadows did research on their soon-to-be foes. The Jant had never had a foe outside of other jant and did not plan for the aulvi to be an actual threat. Jant also had breeding cycles every fifty years, the last of which had happened ten years prior to the war's beginning.
This combination led to disaster for the jant who had a new population of children and no chance to have more for forty years. On the day that the aulvi had given to respond, they attacked.
Deployment
Aulvi primarily deployed in strike squads for guerilla warfare, and when forced into actual battle, they fought retreating battles until they got to defended spaces where they could wait out their assailants, having plenty of food and water of their own.
The kolobvol were unused to warfare, but quickly learned from the aulvi, striking during the day. Kolobvol quickly adapted to the warfare strategy of hit and run, using their caves as spaces to even battles, while the slave rebellions used mostly surprise, they were also, sadly the source of the most Kolobvoli casualties of the war.
Demon-tribe, sky-tribe and Rune tribe deployments were similar, with tight formations that did not flex well to guerilla warfare. Strength-tribe was worse, relying on their natural regenerative properties, their formations were nearly nonexistent and they were slaughtered by aulven magic and strategy typically losing at least two or three for every aulven dead.
Wood and sand tribes actually worked alongside the aulvi and kolobvol in a support fashion, helping to hide Kolobvol refugees, and guiding aulvi through the dune seas. This aid named them friend to both groups, and the sand Jant managed to escape the war with causualties numbering in the double digits, rather than the tens and hundreds of thousands of their other kin. While the wood Jant suffered more, as they were less passive to other Jant intrusion into their jungle homes. The wood Jant suffered thousands of casualties, but their foes suffered more severely.
Battlefield
Many battlefields were in the schorching sands of the Daebzat deserts. The other battlefields were the mountain cities of the Jant where slave rebellions and secret raids caused fear among the Jant. Finally, in the early stages of the war the demon tribe, then later in the war, the strength tribe assaulted the Kolobvol in the jungles, breaking ancient pacts with the wood Jant who hunted those who entered their woods mercilessly
The Engagement
Very few battles happened on open ground, and when t hey did, the aulven strategy was always retreat to a defensible position. No force on Hechesioeh, or perhaps the world could have stood toe-to-toe with formations of battle-hardened Jant, and the aulvi knew their strengths.
Outcome
The Jant suffered a roughly 40% reduction of their entire population, mostly adults, leading into a generation of adolescents who saw the cost of war with the aulvi. The Rune tribe now only exists in theory, with the one Rune prince barred from turning other jant into his kind. The Strength tribe is scattered, without leadership. The demon tribe suffered the least, but still reels from the war, while the Sky tribe actively seeks to make reparations to the Kolobvol so as to maintain a good relationship with the aulvi.
Aftermath
With the shift in the slave trade, the Zevemlyans left Coralport less well defended, but still maintained their Kolbvol slaves for the silk trade. The shifting nature of the Kolobvol now gives them a chance to explore the world with less chance of repurcussions, and the tensiions from the loss of the silk trade and the continued enslavement of the Kolobvol in Zevemlya would eventually boil to a head at the sacking of coralport, and the beginning of The Immortals War.
Historical Significance
Technological Advancement
This was the first war in which Kolobvol crafted weapons for themselves, inventing the anadi battle-fan as a result of these conflicts.
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