The Alethian Dusk

Military: War

In 693 A.R, the vast Alethian kingdom invaded Sundermark, claiming great success in the first years to come. Their conquest was however halted at the new fortress of Ziwskowa.
 


  The Alethian army was eventually defeated at Ziwskowa after five years of gruelling siege. For 7 years they would be continuously pushed back, until finally, under pressure from tributaries revolting back home, they surrendered and gave back the land they had claimed.


  This would cause the end of the Alethian golden age, and bring about dark times for the realm.

In the year of 693 A.R, the Kingdom of Alethia invaded the bordering realm of Dawn's Kingdom. They marched legions into southern Sundermark, catching the unprepared garrisons of southern Dawn's Kingdom, and delivering decisive defeats wherever they went.


  After only two years they had taken the regional capital of Prudnik, and as they prepared their march north, it seemed their armies couldn't be stopped. However, on their march, they would soon find an obstacle unlike any before.
 


  The great fortress of Ziwskowa stood at the branching of the river, and the Alethians knew they needed to take it in order to establish their supply lines.


  However, the newly constructed fortress would withstand all attempts at taking it. Waves of Alethians threw themselves against its walls, but they could simply not take the stronghold.
 


  For five years they tried, and failed to take Ziwskowa, and then, in a glorious breaking of the siege, the Ziwskowan defenders managed to break out, and crush the lines of the Alethians, helped by a large army led by the nobles of the north. With this, the war turned.
 


  The war continued for seven more years, and with each summer the hosts of Dawn's Kingdom got closer and closer to Alethia proper. With their defeat at the battlefield, Alethian tributaries began to break away, and rebel. In 707 A.R, the unthinkable happened, and Alethia surrendered. They were forced to return home to Alethia proper, and instead spend years defending it against former subjects seeking vengeance.
 


  In the wake of the conflict, the house of Ziwskowa found themselves famous and powerful. They had exhausted almost all of their wealth on the original building of their stronghold, but now they could once more build and grow their powerbase. They would cement themselves as the most powerful house in the south of Dawn's Kingdom. It would even come to pass that Prudnik was granted to an offshoot of the house of Ziwskowa, house Konarski.