The War to End All Wars

The War of 491, commonly simply referred to as "the War" or sometimes "the Reaping" or "the Cursed War" is generally considered to be the bloodiest and most devastating conflict in the history of the world. Casualty tolls remain ever changing as bodies are discovered weekly and documentation is unveiled. Additionally, due to the immense amounts of magic released during the war, some details appear unclear or conflicting, and temporal anomalies are confirmed to have taken place during the battles. These manifested in soldiers from past or future wars participating in skirmishes, appearing and disappearing objects, including trees and hills, and similar phenomena.

Prelude

Frictions between the Campir Empire and the Kingdom of Norelva have always been high due to centuries of consistent attrition and border incidents. Experts are unsure as to the actual reason or motive behind the aggression shown by imperial forces, as the Campir language and way of life is carefully kept secret by the empire themselves. From the few glimpses available time after time, the Campir appear to be a purely warring, expansionistic civilization with a religious creed deeply ingrained into their culture and, by consequence, their obsession with combat. They appear to have developed slowly in the agricultural and industrial fields, and it may be the case that their expansionism is required to survive. As of present day, the destruction of three smaller civilizations is attributed to their imperialistic attitude.

Between 486 and 490, activity at the southern border of Norelva had increased enough to warrant the attention of the Royal Army. Scouting parties and border patrol troop numbers were increased, and numerous reports of imperial soldiers near the borders, both south and north, came in. By 489, Royal Army High Command correctly predicted that such probes into the nation's defenses would lead to a possible conflict. A diplomatic notice was sent to the Empire to confront them on their presence near Norelva. It went unanswered, and two years later, in early autumn, a letter reached a local Army outpost carried on the corpse of a Norelvan fisherman. It read as such:

◾ "Enough years have passed. Noret will face imperial steel. May his head adorn the Imperial Throne."

Initial Stages

After the declaration of war by the Empire, Royal Army High Command swiftly began mobilizing all available forces. Royal decrees aimed at establishing a wartime economy and nationalization of private industries followed suit, together with a partial draft and the immediate fortification of all sensitive targets in the nation. Academies, major production outlets, population clusters and medical centers were considered vital to the country's well-being. This massive defensive stance would prove crucial in surviving the conflict. Wizards and sorcerers were prioritized and taught devastating offensive spells, or targeted towards shielding troops from harm and providing immediate defense. Clerics either volunteered or were drafted to provide medical care, and even with a partial summoning of citizens to the frontline, up to 67% of civilians who joined the Army were volunteers. Gunpowder research was expedited, resulting in the deployment of the first ever long-range artillery cannons during the latter battles of the war.

International Involvement

Furthermore, the true might of the Imperial forces might be understood better with this detail: the War of 491 was not a war directly on Norelva, but a world war between the Empire and the other nations, with those most involved being Ky'Pla, Rokran, Igell (primarily via naval warfare). The other nations, such as New Fromen, Irendall and Winhold provided aid to their allies, manpower, or hardware.

Ky'Pla found itself stuck at a beachhead north of the Imperial territories, having launched a campaign to cut off the advancing troops from behind and shipped thousands of soldiers to the peninsula west of the desert. On the day of the landing, however, it became clear that Imperial spies were aware of the plan, and the Ky'Plan army was stopped in its tracks. Suffering losses before even landing, they desperately established positions on the coast and slowly clawed forward. Only the arrival of specialized land bombardment ships managed to break the Imperial chokehold, and from then, Ky'Pla chased the Empire all the way to the north-east of Norelva, where the Royal Army finally defeated them.

Rokran joined the war almost immediately, and used their skill in underground warfare and tunneling to provide vital routes to the Royal Army through which equipment and manpower could be moved stealthily. They assisted the kingdom in production and matched their output of weapons and explosives, even deploying armored vehicles on the battlefield and experimental weapons such as flame launchers, super long-range cannons and machine guns.

Igell found itself fighting alongside the Royal Navy in the Sapphire Ocean and on the west coast, often in a symbiotic relationship: while Royal ships supported land campaigns, Igellian ships, small and maneuverable skiffs and even underwater craft, swarmed and destroyed imperial vessels that threatened to cut the Navy off. At the Battle of the Gulf, where the last stand between the Royal Navy and Imperial Armada took place, Igellian ships were crucial in breaking enemy lines and formations, singling out smaller ships to give the outnumbered Navy easy targets, and harassing the two remaining dreadnoughts of the Armada, the Iracundia and Vindicta, drawing their fire.

Battle of the Winding Sands

The first true battle between Imperial and Royal forces took place in 492, south-east of the Norelvan mainland. Having pushed to a region of desert bottlenecked west by the ocean and east by lethal, scorching desert, the Royal Army dug down and prepared for Imperial advances in the region. Commanded by Army General Sir Emmett O'Malice, a detachment of troops from several regiments correctly predicted the advance of the enemy troops, and encountered them head-on. For three weeks, the much smaller Royal unit managed to hold back several army groups from breaching the first line of defense, but was ultimately routed and retreated. Even with shelling from two Navy vessels on the coast, the RNS Adagio and the RNS Stardust, the defense was simply not enough to hold back the Imperial tide.

Following the loss at Winding Sands, the Royal Army found itself at a constant retreat for several years, during which gruesome trench warfare took place first in the desert, then moving to the hillside and eventually even developing into sporadic mountain warfare. A scorched earth policy and guerrilla warfare allowed the kingdom's forces to inflict massive casualties even when retreating, at times causing avalanches and purposely detonating natural dams to slow enemy advance. Ultimately, however, this would not be enough to stop the relentless Imperial march.

Siege at Wyvern Passage

Eventually, the Royal Army found itself lodged in the valley that housed the nation's main cities. By now, the late months of 499, morale has begun dwindling. Reports of suicides and deserters rise daily, and the Army digs in for the final line of defense: if the enemy were to break through at the Passage, the valley would be defenseless down to the Capital. Thousands and thousands of Royal troops dig trenches and encampments along the thin mountain pass and on the steep inclines looking down onto it. Artillery pieces are mounted facing forward as makeshift cannons, and explosives are placed in critical spots at the peak to trigger avalanches. It is clear by winter of 499 that the kingdom is willing to do anything to survive, including burying its final defenders under the snow.

◾ "The time has come. The enemy has pushed us back, and back, and back, and here we stand with our citizens behind us. Raise your shields, and your bows, and your guns. This is where the tide stops. This is where we make our stand. They shall not pass."

The message sent by Army General O'Malice to the defenders of Norelva resonated, and a sense of reckless hope took hold. When the Imperial Army reached the Pass, the unstoppable force was met with an unmovable object. Hopelessly outnumbered, the Royal troops mounted a devastating defense, supported by airships from the 1st Airfarer Fleet, red dragon Galtaris and white dragon Icarion. Reports from the time mention that the tremors from Royal guns could be felt down to Castow, and the screams of defiance of the Army were loud enough to cause small snowslides. Thousands of shells, bullets, arrows, spells and various attacks were launched at the Imperial forces in the span of hours, and attempts at traversing the mountains were met with fierce opposition from mountain troops working with locals, frost giants and trolls.

It is, however, with the arrival of the king that a tug of war quickly turned to an overwhelming victory. Documents of the time offer little detail, and appear crazed and senseless, however, from what modern historians can gather, the following occurred: King Evander Noret, covered in golden armor, appeared above the Passage, his head a fiery ring of sunlight. Accompanied by the ghost of an enormous dragon hanging on his shoulder, he unleashed an enormous outburst of magic that, to this day, left permanent cracks in the deepest layers of the earth, in addition to creating a smaller mountain range north of the battlefield. This event, simply called the Miracle, successfully overturned the Imperial forces, routing them and destroying 97% of the present enemies.

To this day, historians and veterans are conflicted as to exactly what happened.

Google Sites