Ibladesh (Realm)/Chronicles of War/Great Southern War
Participants: Ibladesh, Itorunt, Tuchanon V, Caligus.
Status: still going.
Contents
Introduction
The Great Southern War is a historical event which was originally fought between Itorunt and Ibladesh, and started on 05.09.2008. after King Lucian of Itorunt declared war on Ibladesh. The war has finished and Ibladesh took control of all the Itoruntian provinces.
The reasons that lead to hostilities are many, and to understood it correctly, earlier history needs to be explained. Ibladesh and Itorunt, once great allies and federated partners (together with Yssaria), have dissolved their federation sometime in year 2007, after Itorunt stepped out from the federation which resulted in a immediate declaration of war. The war raged on, which caused Yssaria to cease to exist, and the victor of that first war was Itorunt, who achieved victory together with their allies Perdan and Caligus. Ibladesh was forced to sign a unfavourable treaty ("Serendipity Treaty"), which should have left Ibladesh without Zawr, Az Zarqua and Dayr and the other regions lost in war, as soon as the treaty was signed. However, Ibladesh still controlled those 3 regions for a 5 months time, probably due to a mutual agreement of land stewarding. In those 5 months of peace, Itorunt has accused Ibladesh of selling food to Tuchanon V which was never proven. As the pressure and hostilties started to increase on both sides, the traitor Matthew Bachelor has aligned the region of Oc Lu Pesh, which was a Ibladeshian soil, to the Duchy of Xavax which belonged to Itorunt. His act was justified by "breaking the hierarchy" by the Pontifex of Ibladesh at that time, Terminus Recena. His reasons are reffered to the election of a new Duke of Al Arab. The Ibladeshi have immediately moved to reclaim Oc Lu Pesh which resulted in a first battle, although the war has not yet been declared. After a week of mutual discussions, King Lucian of Itorunt has declared war on Ibladesh with the official explanation that "he wants to see Ibladesh deprived of their lands for breaking the Serendipity treaty".
Victorious Beginning and the Caligulan Invasion From the North
The beginning of the war saw great success for Ibladesh. Rejuvenated with young and dedicated nobles the Ibladeshians charged in with valor against their much stronger opponent. Ibladesh saw numerous victories in Betholm, Igno and Enubec, and small skirmishes in Zawr. The Itoruntian land lords have been kicked out from Betholm, Igno, Tota, Enubec and Aeng. Ibladeshian allies Tuchanon V took control of Igno, Tota and Enubec, while Ibladesh dedicated themselves on destruction of Itoruntian mobile forces and protection of their allies against the imperialistic hand of Itorunt.
As the time went by and Itorunt was losing a great deal of their forces, supplies and nobles, the new Queen of Itorunt, Alexandra D'Jera, managed to make a very important political move and summoned their allies, the Caligulans from the north, to their aid. Ibladesh was surrounded from the north and the south which resulted in great setbacks across their lands. The especially important strategical region, Mines of Isadril, was lost in that time which was the omen of dark times ahead. After witnessing the sadism of Itorunt nobles on their own peasant, the Ibladeshian strategy has also changed. That what was at first a honorful and chivalrous war has turned into a complete massacres of the innocent population on both sides. Facing themselves against the overwhelming enemy Ibladesh was not to last for long. When the red banners of Caligus could be seen in Ar Raqqah and the Itoruntian barbaric tortues in Oc Lu Pesh and Al Aquabah, the time was ripe for a change. Pontifex Maximus Terminus Recena decided to step down. A new leader emerged in Ibladesh. Sinted Dacara, the long standing Duke of Ibladesh. His reign is familiar as the Second Age of the Enlightement due to his efforts to restructure the Church of Ibladesh, and the great financial contributions to the military of Ibladesh which was completely restructured by the Paladin Primus of Ibladesh. Pontifex Maximus Sinted "the Blessed" Dacara managed to rescue Ibladesh from complete destruction by using the greed of Itorunt and honour of Caligus against each other. Al Arab was about to be given away to Itorunt and the Theocracy severely reduced, but the Itoruntian greed had no limit which caused Caligus to drop out of the war while Itorunt received nothing. At this point in time Perdan warred Tuchanon V and saw their destruction. Tuchanon V, without any allies and alone surrendered their capital city of Isadril to Caligus and thus ended the existence of Tuchanon V in the annals of history.
Stalemate with Itorunt
Itorunt and Ibladesh remained alone against each other in their war of the southern domination. It is important to note that the relations between Ibladesh and Caligus have seen extraordinary improvements from that point, which later resulted in the mutual alliance.
After Caligus pulled out Ibladesh managed to regain their strenght and regain the upper hand. The regions of Tota, Igno and Enubec were taken, while massive invasions occured in Itor Boss. Still, due to the often shifts of military leaders they have also suffered some setbacks. Regions of Zawr and Az Zarqua went rogue which left the city of Al Arab as the furthest Ibladeshian territory on the west. As the time went by the Itoruntian line of defense was starting to break which allowed the Ibladeshian entrance to the heartlands of Itorunt. Itor Boss was taken over and Ejar Puutl was put under a tremendous pressure.
The Majestic Sweap of the South
As Itorunt started to realize that the chances for them to defeat Ibladesh on the battlefield are pretty slim, their government started launching offensive propaganda, which was in most of the cases accompanied by utter lies and the whole arsenal of insults at practically anyone that did not held good relations with them. Oddly enough their Regina Morgana Lefanis was practically on the helm of the propaganda, and as such one of her escapades lead to the Caligulan aggression towards Itorunt. On the same night of the war declaration the Caligulan armies sieged and broke the city of Xavax. However, since the relations between the Caligulan and Perdanese thrones were highly hostile, Perdan felt obliged to invade the Caligulans for their aggression on Itorunt, who were allied with Perdan. Still, the outbursts of the Itoruntian throne quite effectively lead to the loss of their control of Xavax, which a few days later proclaimed anarchy. Soon after that Ibladesh entered the city of Xavax, and claimed the city under their banners. That marked the first major and crucial event for Ibladesh in the Great Southern War.
As the power of Ibladesh grew and little competent resistance was made by their enemies, the Ibladeshi forces have started coming nearer and nearer to the legendary city of Itorunt, the birthplace of the Itorunt nation and the richest city in the far south. On the winter of the year 2009 the armies of Ibladesh gathered to mount a siege on the city, which successfully ended just a few days later. In the light of the astonishing victory of Ibladesh, Duke Hamilton Vita of Itorunt seceded the city forming the Protectorate of Obsidian Islands and quickly declared war on Itorunt. Thus, he engulfed the South into complete chaos and mayhem as 3 different realms with hostile intentions towards each other were fighting for supremacy. After a long siege and military pressure the city of Itorunt has finally fallen to anarchy, after which Ibladesh mounted a takeover which successfully ended 5 days later. This was the first time in history of Ibladesh that the Pearl of the South flew the Ibladeshi flag.
With the Protectorate dead and defeated in the South, Ibladesh offered the surrender terms to the Crown of Itorunt and although the negotiations lasted for a few weeks the Itoruntian government did not accept the offered terms. In the middle of the negotiations the Pontifex Maximus Sinted the Blessed Dacara stepped down from the throne of Ibladesh, and the elections that took place crowned Mythos Arrakis, the long standing Paladin Primus of Ibladesh, as the new Pontifex.
The war continues but the ending seems nearer than before.
