Ash Sea Islands/History

http://wiki.battlemaster.org/images/ASI_small.png The Story of the Ash Sea Islands

---

The realm of Ash Sea Islands was first founded in the earliest days of Atamara. Although originally it was a small republic, it soon became a vast and sprawling empire that controlled all the regions from Riverholm to Barnlure. Our first King was a man named Silver Stone Sylvanas and our lands, even then, were of high strategic importance and coveted the world over. Keeping them would prove to be difficult.

The First Major War

Ash Sea Islands in the era of Republic

At some point in our early history, for reasons unknown, Abington attacked the Ash Sea Islands and our first downfall began. We were attacked by many other realms and were forced to surrender after loosing all our traditional lands in the Ash Sea. However we kept; Ser'quea, Mapo, Jauchu, Inxi, Lerss and Hegado. King Silver Stone was forced to emigrate to the New World and our High Marshal, Talius Sargeras Valorian, ascended the throne for the first time. Our realm enjoyed peace for a long time after that and we were unable to reclaim the lands we had lost. During this time we were sandwiched in between two great alliances, known in the Ash Sea Islands simply as the North Alliance and the South Alliance.

The North Alliance and the South Alliance were at war. King Talius Sargeras chose to not get involved, despite being strategically placed in between Tara and Abington, serving as the only passage between either of them. Both alliances wanted us to join their side but both also wanted to see us out of their way. We managed to survive mostly through commerce, trading and simply watching the huge battles on our realms borders.

On the Offensive

After sometime Southasland attacked us and a lengthy war started. No one gained anything in the early months of the war, but we were both very passionate about winning. The war only began tipping in our favour upon the appointment of a new High Marshal, Jorel of Kent and the subsequent appearance of a new ally, Norland, who brought many soldiers to our aid and assisted us in gaining new lands. Briefly, Southasland managed to regain the initiative after hiring Darka to pillage our lands but after sometime the Barony of Makar came to pillage Southasland and the war became balanced once again. Numerous battles took place, mostly for the control of Mapo.

In those days, we were at a strategic disadvantage as we had no archers back then. There wasn't a single archery trainer in all of Atamara! A very curious situation indeed. Nonetheless, no one could gain an edge and say that they would win the war. Falasan eventually came to help but it was hopeless. Both the Ash Sea Islands and Southasland were fighting hard, yet still the war got us nowhere no matter how many joined the conflict. Thus eventually, both sides agreed to cease hostilities and sign a peace treaty. There were even talks of merging our two realms together! Though after a short period of peace we both joined the same alliance which seemed to be the best course of action for both our realms.

It was not long after the war with Southasland that King Lelnor Relak ascended the throne, and soon we decided to attack RedSpan in retribution for ransacking our lands during our great war with Abington. What was supposed to be glorious revenge, turned out to be a glorious disaster! We weren't ready ready for a war and in the Battle of Ambermel we lost heavily and our own King was slain in the fighting. It was a sad, sad day for our realm. King Lelnor had been among us for years and was respected by vast swathes of the nobility. In light of King Lelnor's death, we ended the war and reconsidered all of our diplomatic relations, whilst King Venom Snake replaced our fallen King on the throne.

Much time past and King Drago Dragonheart came to the throne of Abington and a new era began for the relations between the Ash Sea Islands and Abington. Hard diplomacy started so that we could take back our place of origin, Ash'rily, and some of the Islands in order to restore the meaning behind our name. A 'war' started and we gratefully took Veshin, Yacon and Ash’rily in quick succession.

For the first time in generations, our kingdom was now strong enough and capable enough to enter a war and defend itself. The first war we entered after reclaiming Ash'rily was with Tara. Our ally, Southasland, was already embroiled in war with them, in need of new lands to feed their city. We were happy to help our ally and things were going smoothly until former members of Tuchanon II led a rebellion in Southasland and reformed the government into Tuchanon III with Taran support. It was around this time that King Venom Snake stepped down as King, since he was no longer able to follow the facts flying around and King Talius Sargeras Valorian once again came to the throne.

Our new ally and beloved friend was lost and a tyrant had taken the throne in Tucha. Many nobles from Southasland joined us seeking to help fight the rebels including it's last rightful ruler, King Boris. Allies gathered quickly to help remove the Tuchanon abomination (Falasan, Minas Ithil, Norland and the Barony of Makar each stepped in) and soon 'Southasland' was destroyed with the majority of their lands going to Falasan. This however was not the end of the war and Tara remained a large problem.

The Ash Sea Islands had borne the brunt of Tara's attacks and successfully managed to keep them and Darka away whilst Tucha was taken over. It was an uneven war with Tara having a far greater income than we did ourselves could command, but the superiority of our army was proved time and time again throughout the hostilities. Soon Abington came down from their lands to help against the Tarans but forces from the Cagilan Empire appeared to shore up their flailing friend. We lost a major battle in Inxi soon after that which put all members of the Ashlantean Council except High Marshal Doc's Revenge Primus, in Cagilan jail cells! Elections took place a couple of days later but luckily, Royal Treasurer Nautilus Spiliz had managed to escape jail in time to emerge blinking into victory. Thus a new council was formed, with King Nautilus Spiliz as our new monarch and Sir Doc's Revenge Primus retained his position as High Marshal due to his excellent work in the post.

Talks with RedSpan began shortly after King Nautilus got used to his duties and while the war with Tara raged on, an agreement for peace between the Ash Sea Islands and RedSpan was hammered out. Now Tara was falling fast. The Taran armies fled in fear as we marched across their lands. Rogeshore, Byblack, Jagla and Tichi all switched their allegiances to us quickly. When we eventually began the takeover of Sullenport, one of Tara's prized cities, the Duke Victor, surrendered in a testament to the sheer hopelessness of the Taran war effort. In the end Tara was forced to accept peace or risk loosing the right to it's very existence. In order to give them peace, we asked for and received Aja, the former Taran capital. The war was finally over, and the Ash Sea Islands reigned victorious.

The Short Peace

In a gesture of friendship, ASI rebuilt the broken city of Sullenport and handed over sovereignty to RedSpan, returning their ancient capital back into the hands of the Goats!

A New War of Honour and a Restoration of History

ASI has been provoked by Abington to a war for the rest of the Ash Sea Islands. Once an ally, now an enemy, that brings ASI to where it was 3 years ago. Abington and Tara have attacked simultaneously, but for different reasons. We have come to fulfil the wishes of our history by claiming our Ancient Lands. Woright and Worav are what ASI wants. A Weak neighbour that can be controlled is what Abington wants.

In the beginning, the conflict yo-yoed back and forth between the Ash Sea Islands and Abington. We maintained the advantage at first, and managed to stave off several invasion attempts, draining Abingtons military heavily. Even though our own army was far weaker in comparison. However the status-quo did not last long and with the entry of Tara, RedSpan, Carelia and Talerium into the war, ASI was hemmed in from all sides, which led to the loss of vast swathes of previously ASI held territory. However, Minas Ithil pledged her support the moment that Tara set foot on our lands. Fortunately for us, however, DA3 kept the Minas Ithil armies with ASI till the end, and did not leave the conflict when Tara and ASI came to terms.

Talerium in particular caused problems, looting many of our regions, seemingly out of jealousy because their own lands are so barren, sandy and dull. During this low point, the Abington heathens even managed to come within one region of Ser'quea! However, this threat was quickly ousted and we made our way Eastwards once again, back towards Ash'rily in an attempt to assert our Divine Right to the Islands that bare our name!

Unfortunately, it never turned out quite like that due to the treacherous ways of Gabriel Bachelor, Supreme Despot of Abington. Gabriel managed to convince RedSpan and Carelia to join him in his greedy quest for the islands, and it was not long before our Island Jewel fell in dishonour, suffering the indignity of RedSpan and Carelian troops plundering it to the ground whilst Abington forces "kept the Peace." This was all regardless of the fact that we fought alone for nearly the entire war.

Alas, we may have lost the Islands, but thankfully we never lost our Dignity or Honour in this War! And at least we can rest easy knowing that we possess a backbone, unlike the Abbies who never dared fight us on an even footing...

The War with RedSpan

Not long after the end of the war with Abington and the signing of a Treaty preventing passage by either realm through the Islands, ASI was back on the campaign trail. This time to reclaim lands lost to RedSpan who had so swiftly and mercilessly taken advantage of us at our lowest ebb in the war with Abington and also, to make them pay for their actions in Ash'rily. We did not find ourselves fighting alone in this war however, for due to the strangeness of the situation we found ourselves fighting alongside our old enemies in the NA as well as with our great ally, Falasan. The members of the alliances who took part in this war were:

• North Alliance: Cagilan Empire | Darka | Tara

• South Alliance: Abington | Carelia | RedSpan

During the course of the war, we slowly retook Byblack and then Rogeshore from RedSpan and her allies, with only limited resistance due to the SA having to concentrate not just on us, but also against Tara and her allies. Once these regions had both finally been brought back under the ASI banner there was actually relatively little fighting on our part for the rest of the war. Although that said, the later Battle of Tichi deserves an honourable mention, were our forces were outnumbered two to one by Carelians yet still inflicted a terrible loss on them. The Carelian clean up by nearby CE forces afterwards was also a wonder to behold apparently. Still, these moments were few and precious due to the attempts by Doc's Revenge to bring about the War's end quickly with Peaceful Diplomacy. A task made considerably harder by the inexplicable disappearance of two former Kings of RedSpan during this time. Thus our armies idled in Ser'quea for over a month before finally, an agreement was reached between us and RedSpan in what has been named as the 'Treaty of Sullenport.' The Treaty, amongst other things, gave sovereignty of Sullenport back over to ASI and represented the end of the War with RedSpan.

The War with Carelia

After the end of the war with RedSpan, we began a war with the Kingdom of Carelia for their hostile actions against us both in the brutal subjugation of Ash'rily and other acts of looting and raiding in our Western lands. In response to the Carelians attempts to colonise the Duchy of Aja with Talerium when we were at our lowest ebb, we ourselves began a colony takeover of the Carelian city of Nida. However in a closely fought battle that left just two Carelian units on the field, the takeover was interrupted and we were forced to go home. The next time we entered Carelian lands we were routed in Craigmore. That was the last time we encountered Carelian forces in battle.

Although many wished to continue the war with Carelia, just days after our defeat the Cagilan Empire got involved and declared war on Carelia. King Doc's Revenge declared that we would no longer make war with Carelia shortly after, not wishing the honourable one on one war we had enjoyed to turn into a gang bang. Thus the war was ended, with a view to continue our squabbles at a later date. In the end however, this never happened as ASI-Carelia relations improved so much after the war that the Good Neighbour Treaty was signed, bringing our two realms together in friendship and alliance.

The War for the Islands

Some time after the tournament, ASI began the journey to retake her Islands that almost entirely belonged to Abington after the many conflicts that had erupted between the two realms over the years. An ultimatum was made for Abington to return the Islands peacefully, backed up with a dossier of evidence that showed Abingtons contempt for the Island treaty. Thus, the war for the Islands began.

Ashlantean troops quickly retook the Islands, however the war was then complicated by the appearance of another war on Abington's western front. A war to found a new realm in Wayburg in order to limit Abington's power. This effort was primarily supported by Minas Ithil and Talerium, with Darka and the Cagilan Empire also offering their support for the colony

ASI soon found herself supporting the colony too, in aid of her allies. The Ashlantean army conducted a great trek through Abington from the Islands, in an effort to thwart Abington's first attempt to destroy the new realm of Kybcyell. This effort turned out to be in vain as later on, Kybcyell was destroyed with Ashlantean troops arriving in the area a day too late to save her.

In the aftermath of Kybcyell's destruction, several battles took place in Worav and Wynford as Queen Armitage III and King Doc's Revenge attempted to strike up a treaty to end the war. Eventually King Doc's Revenge stepped down after making no headway, in his place Malice Osha, the High Marshal of ASI was elected in his place.

Shortly thereafter new talks began between Ash Sea Islands and Abington, taking on a different tack from before. A variety of different terms were debated and ping ponged between the two monarchs for several weeks before finally favourable terms were found between both parties. Thus the New Islands Treaty was signed, and unlike previous treaties between Abington and ASI, was signed in the spirit of friendship and co-operation for the future.

The Golden Age

Ash Sea Islands during the Golden Age

Since the end of the war with Abington, ASI has enjoyed a period of peace not seen for many months. A reconstruction effort is currently ongoing to repair the damage to the Islands caused in the conflict and to expand infrastructure there.

Shortly after the peace, ASI also honoured an agreement made long ago with RedSpan. Thus Sullenport and Byblack were returned to the Redspaniards in short ceremonies between King Malice and King Tony.

During the era of peace, the translation of ancient Ashlantean texts led to the founding of Magna Serpænsism. Due to the widespread peace it did not take long for temples to spring up all over the kingdom and even for the light of Magnus to spread to nearby realms.

War with the Northern Federation

At the beginning of 1007, the Northern Federation began a conflict with members of the Eastern Alliance of which we are members. Although at first the conflict began with one realm wanting an honour war, it quickly deviated into four realms attacking our two EA brethren. We had no choice but to lower relations and go to their aid. The realms involved included:

Northern Federation: Barony of Makar | Eston | Norland + Darka

Eastern Alliance: Ash Sea Islands | Falasan | Minas Ithil + Carelia

At the start Norland declared a holy war against Minas Ithil, whilst also hoping to reclaim former Hasland territory. BoM quickly joined their ally after a swift worsening of relations up north. Further south, Eston declared war on Falasan under false pretences with Darka being hired to aid Eston in her nefarious purpose. The Ashlantean Armies were immediately mobilised to aid our friends in the face of the NF threat, the armies were split with the larger part of our forces heading towards Falasan and the rest towards Minas Ithil.

During the second sending of forces to our allies, the rogue state of Capashinia was founded by the former Duke of Tucha, Torin Capashin, which not only harmed Falasan but also slowed down Ashlantean forces as they sought to quickly remove the threat to our borders before once again aiding Falasan en masse. A heavy defeat in Belegmon was suffered shortly afterwards before ASI was temporarily taken out of the war completely by the dishonourable actions of RedSpan.

The Second War with RedSpan

Shortly after combined Falasan-Ashlantean forces had been defeated in Belegmon news of an astonishing act of war came from the south. Overnight RedSpan had conveniently invaded Rogeshore. King Malice was swift to demand the meaning of the intrusion but it was not until 24 hours later that war was even declared by RedSpan, longer still before a reason was given. As it eventually turned out, RedSpan simply wanted to profiteer from the events that had kept ASI occupied up north. RedSpan claimed they were simply rebuilding 'Da Highway' by attempting to take Rogeshore whilst also stating that the followers of Magna Serpænsism in Rogeshore would soon be persecuted. The Ashlantean nobility were outraged. Though of course, RedSpan had underestimated their opponents.

The people of Rogeshore quickly rejected the takeover begun by RedSpaniard forces, recognising them for the oppressive forces that they were. Meanwhile this gave the Ashlantean armies enough time to return home, and RedSpaniard forces were quickly chased out of Rogeshore. A takeover of Byblack was begun next door and surely would have succeeded if not for a deplorable act of looting by a single noble during the occupation. Still content with their work however, Ashlantean forces withdrew to Rogeshore again and the unprecedented show of strength in Byblack made RedSpan reconsider her position. It was at this point that King Tony of RedSpan abdicated and his successor, realising RedSpan's isolation, began negotiations.

The subsequent negotiations between King Malice and King Dielo took many weeks but eventually led to the Treaty of Rogeshore between the opposing sides and the signing of a peace agreement, allowing the Ash Sea Islands once again focus on events elsewhere.

The Gathering of the Storm

Western Confederation, Northern and Southern Alliance: Cagilan Empire | Carelia | Tara | Darka | Talerium | Eston | Barony of Makar + Suville | Caergoth

Eastern Alliance: Ash Sea Islands | Protectorate of Magnus | Falasan + Minas Ithil

The Great War of 1008 has represented the outbreak of continental warfare across the Atamaran islands, with no realm uninvolved, whether directly or indirectly with the conflict. Though without a primary catalyst to its causes, due to it being the result of a hotch-potch of smaller individual conflicts being massed into one great struggle for mastery over the continent. Continuing on from the engagements surrounding the Minas Ithil/Norland conflict in the north, and remembering Estonite resentment at their defeat after their war with Falasan, and the role that the Ash Sea Islands played in the war, the true defining moment which began a chain reaction of events that culminated in such a massive conflict was a small raid performed by the Protectorate of Magnus upon the lands of Talerium to the far west.

From that moment, tempers flared, and war drums sounded as a vast array of allies began to form in the west and the south which plotted the downfall of the fledgling realm of the Protectorate. Seeing a moment of weakness and opportunity, the Abingtonite secessionists in Suville and Caergoth declared war, and were then shortly followed by Carelia, Tara, Talerium and then Darka after the mercenaries were contracted out by the their neighbours. King Doc's Revenge declaration of our resolve to defend our allies in the fledgling southern Theocracy resulted in a redirection of the hatred original exhibited towards the Protectorate, towards the Ashlantean nobility. Indeed, now facing some seven realms, in a desperate fight to retain our sovereignty, these represent some of the more darker days in Ashlantean history.

The Great War

Ash Sea Islands after the Great War

Battles and Events of the Great War of 1008

Tournaments

The Ash Sea Islands has held several tournaments in her time, most notably those held by our monarchs. The first took placeduring the reign of King Nautilus Spiliz, to mark the end of the war with the Taran Empire and the second during the reign of King Doc's Revenge Primus, to mark the reclamation of the Islands. More information about Ashlantean tournaments and others around Atamara can be found in Lady Keiichi Hyral's popular publication, Fox Talks.

Spiliz Tournament

In celebration of the new found peace in the Ash Sea Islands and our victorious war against Tara, King Nautilus Spiliz invited all the nobles of Atamara to Ser'quea to join a grand tournament of both sword fight and joust. The Grand Prize for each tournament event was a pot of 800 Gold, which at the time were some of the largest prizes ever known in an Atamaran tournament. A total of 213 nobles from across Atamara chose to participate.

	Winner	Runner Up
Sword fighting	Night Elf (Carelia)	Shaun (?)
Jousting	Gregor (?)	Hakki (Tara)

Primus Tournament

Some time after the War of Retribution with Carelia, King Doc's Revenge announced a tournament of joust and sword fight to be held in Ser'quea to mark the calmness and peace our kingdom had enjoyed for some time. The first place prizes were announced as 500 Gold each, whilst the prizes for second place were set at 250 Gold each. In a record for Atamara and indeed the world (at that time), a total of 274 nobles turned up to make their names in tournament.

	Winner	Runner Up
Sword fighting	Moses McGahee (Ash Sea Islands)	Gekko Atrox Akylla (Ash Sea Islands)
Jousting	DrSeptre Meadowcrest (Barony of Makar)	Trantante (Falasan)