The Scorched War

Around half a century before the events of ze boook a conflict began between the proud nation of Tletl and the hosts of Goshë, one that would end millennia-long peace and usher in an age of uncertainty.   It was a bloody war. Emperor Tarkas of Tletl led his empire to war, an unjust, genocidal war, according to Goshe (obviously), as well as Ilmitar and Horomar. Ociphar upheld its actions as an act of rightful war, and HNB declined to comment.     Tension: For the past few ages, considerable tension had been brewing, with Ociphar using Tletl as its proxy nation to get at various goals beyond its reach from trade to establishing military outposts in remote regions. Goshë, Horomar, and Ilmitar have been increasing their shared trade value, while little of the draconic or subaquatic wealth is shared with Tletl or Ociphar. Because of these things, and the long-held historic grudge between Ociphar and Goshë, Ociphar launched a very specific information campaign against Goshë somewhat within Horomar but primarily Tletl as their goal was to undermine the public opinion of the state. Characatures displaying the dragons as greedy, backstabbing, and brutal were all becoming common place wherever the Ociphen government had sway. Ilmitar had an idea that this aspect was happening, but their intelligence services failed to understand the full breadth of what was happening or what was to come.     Ignition: In the buildup to the war there were several small things that nudged the delicate balance of communication between nations ever so slightly closer to war. The dragons were blamed for a small wildfire that destroyed some valuable farmland in the Tletl Empire, though they denied involvement Ociphar and Tletl made an official condemnation of their lack of caution. Seemingly in response sensitive paper documents were dumped unceremoniously in the ocean by trade workers handling a rare shipment between the Tletl Capital and Thassia, the capitol of Goshë. This sparked a decent amount of outrage from the craftsdrakes in Thassia who were insulted by this seemingly deliberate act. Goshë, having some idea minimized their trade to Tletl, while maintainig (at times somewhat forcefully) the existence of rest points for the dragon caravanners headed across Tletl for Ilmitar. These rest points were to play a part in the beginning of the Schorched War.       Unbeknownst to all but the executives of Tletl, a secret weapon had been in the works for deacades. This weapon was designed to, over the course of several decades, win Tletl a dominant spot in the world market and spotlight, forever entrenching them as the prime civilization on Ilmitar. From their distant shamanic past, many of the governmetn sponsored magical intelligence researchers were developing a method of posession. Posession was long since outlawed as a practice by the first-father of the tribes of Ilmitar, a tradition rarely broken by the sibling nations in their long history of strife and cooperation. As a standard practice this rule was upheld by the three nations and not much work had been achieved towards that end due to strict surveilance and its destructive involvment in the prehistory of Ilmitar. Tletl had no such rules, though they pretended on the world stage to ascribe to all magical regulations set by the sister nations. (The innate magic of the dragons was not such to enable posession, as it manifested in other areas to be covered in a separate article.)     So in secret, shamans of the Tletl developed a cunnning way to walk into the body of another being, posess them, and bend them to their will. In a sense this could be used to make "sleeper agents" who could be remotely activated by a spell and comannded to vote one way or another in the democratic houses of Ilmitar, Horomar, or Ociphar, or, as we shall see, embody the full power of a dragon. Tletl's initial plan was not to go to war, surprisingly. Their grand plan for subtle domination was interrupted by a silver-tounged Ociphen spy they discovered, who had been corrusponding with the Ociphen government about this new magic. Since they were "enemies of enemies, and thus, friends," Ociphen agreed to keep it a secret, if they got a cut of the magic once Goshë was efffectively out of the picture. These diplomatic terms served to herald the war, and to intensley strengthen the ties between Tletl and Ociphar.          So now we get to the spark. The Ilmitar version of the shot heard round the world. Not quite, but close enough. Anyway, espionage was begun, months before the wildfire claims began, with shamanic agents worming their way closer to key Goshën targets who were deemed both dangerous and vulnerable. A number of dragons were kidnapped and studied by Tletl shamans to get a full understanding of their limits and capabilities. Then, they pursued their real target. An aid to the royal house on a diplomatic mission to alder... no, wait, wrong one. Ilmitar. One shaman approached at night and took posession of the creature, and took off into the night. Tletl had pre-determined a sacrafice, a city to be burned and destroyed, one that would superficially appear incredibly destructive, genocidal, and place Tletl in a victim lens from Ilmitar and Horomar, but one that would not be critical to military operation. They decided on Utsumann, the fourth largest city by population in the country, however one whose demographic was primarily retirees, not combat-age troops. The surrounding areas were of a similar primary demographic. (think florida.)       ~~~The posessed dragon, wearing the crest of the House of Thassia, reigned destruction on Utsumann, and several hundred thousand lives were lost in one night. Reports flew all over the globe the next day, with political accusations and condemnations of Goshë coming from Tletl, then later Ociphar joined in. Thankfully for Tletl, the posessed dragon returned to Goshë with no memeory of that night, but covered in ash and human blood. Goshë claimed a lone actor had a psychic break (and attempted to distance themselves from them) but when that means a city nuked they were to be held accountable for their actions. By the following week Emporer Tarkas had "gained enough support" from his nobility to launch a war on Goshë, with their most powerful mages, war machines, and armory at their disposal. Ociphar also aided them with materials, weapons, and artifice that had been specifically developed in the past few centuries with the idea of killing dragons.     Goshë pleaded with Ilmitar and Horomar, saying they sensed foul play but were unable to deny the havoc wreaked by their operative, who was imprisoned.   Escalation: The Ilmitarian Octem would take the historic 5-3 vote to stay out of the war and not give aid to Goshë in any way, as it was their duty, not Ilmitar's to make this right with Tletl. The majority believed that if Ilmitar swept in and dismantled the problem or joined the war, both more innocents would die and the actual issues between Goshë adn Tletl would not be solved. This upset one Octem, an angry boi. Maverick was really really mad. He couldn't stand this, and as the Octem of war he garnered as much support as he could, but the majority of guilds moved against him, preventing him from oficcially acting. Maverick Duriel would end up taking around 1/3 of the military in an act of treason and entering the fray in Tletl with a highly trained force. This sparked an escalation that was as close as you could get to WW2 for the world of Ilmitar.   WAR STORY HERE   Resolution/Reparations:   Current Day: