Fontan (Realm)/Fontan-Caligus War

From the memoirs of Lord Mikhail, Chancellor, Judge and Council Member during the Fontan-Caligus war

The journey of Fontan during the Fontan-Caligus one was a tumultous and stormy one, never throughout her history had Fontan been so tested, never before had so many given so much and so many rose to the challenges that faced before them. Fontan back then was a different realm than what it is today. It was a small realm that was not wealthy in gold or regions, but the commitment and patriotism of its nobles was second to none on the continent and the realm was as lively in debate and discussion as it is today. From my experiences during those times, the Fontanese experience during the Fontan-Caligus war can be marked by a few significant events which changed the face and directions of the war, these being the Fall of Fallangard, the election of the legendary Chancellor Lord Klaus and General Son of Patrick and the intervention of Perdan and to a lesser extent Oligarch into the Fontan-Caligus conflict.

I was only a young noble when the realm of Fallangard fell and I still remember it distinctly as it left quite an impression on me. Reduced to a City State located in Isadril, the SA (Ibladesh, Perdan, Caligus and Ubent) had amassed a mighty army in which to invade the City, a force so large the likes had never been seen before on the continent. The leadership of Fallangard had been desperately trying to raise enough militia in which it could repel an invasion, but they just did not have enough. They requested Fontan's assistance and we attempted to assist them. I remember being a Troop Leader in the force that was sent to assist them, but we never reached her in time, only reaching as far as Mashhad before she succumbed to the combined armies of the SA. From the ashes of Fallangard rose a new realm known as Yssaria, created by a man named Ardor. The regions of Hamadan and Mashhad were traditionally Caligus lands, but they were unable to maintain them and they eventually fell under Yssaria's control when the new realm was born. It was from this point in our history that Fontan saw the beginnings of its great successes in the Fontan-Caligus war.

Fontan had made an alliance with the realm of Yssaria, who was at war with Caligus and Ubent who both layed claim to her regions. The loss of Hamadan and Mashhad was a huge blow to Caligus and the presence of another foe in our conflict helped to turn things on our side. Also at the time the leadership of Caligus's military was poor, suffering from inactivity and poor organization and leadership. Fontan on the other hand had bred a new generation of leaders who would go down in history as some of the greatest heroes that had ever served the realm.

Lord Klaus, a leader of one of our Battle Groups had risen the ranks and become Chancellor of Fontan, with Lord Gandalf and Lord The Revenger having served before him. Klaus's ability to inspire the nobility and lead men was apparent and he commanded both the loyalty and determination of his nobles, his success as a Chancellor was key in making Fontan an exciting place to be which payed significant dividends on the battlefield, as our troops were more active and fought harder than our Caligus foes ever did. Another noble that contributed greatly was Lord Son of Patrick, who was our General who so successfully waged a campaign from Caligus, bringing us to the very doorstep of Domus in a matter of months. Son of Patrick's knowledge and mastery of military matters was inspiring and he made our military man for man the best on the continent. Other significant nobles that should be acknowledged are Lord Gregor, who even then was considered the wisest and most senior amongst us, Lord Andro, who served as our most skillful Banker, Lord Alexi, a man of great intellect and fierce loyalty to Fontan, Lord Geoffrey 'Bun', a dear friend and a man who brought humour and warmth to those of us on the front, Lord Lycastus and Lord Zedd, who both today are considered men of treason they were some of the most loyal and honourable men to serve Fontan during the Fontan-Caligus war, plus countless more nobles whose names I have forgotten with the sands of time. My service during much of this time was as Supreme Judge of Fontan and as a Council Member and I spent most of my time fighting on the front, maintaining regions or deliberating on matters brought to the Council's attention.

Fontan's advances under these young and capable nobles against Caligus were quick and significant. In a few short months our victories were swift and they seemed endless. Region after region fell under our control and it was as if Fontan had doubled in size overnight. Aureus, Sordidus, Aestus, Supra and Akesh Temple all fell under our control and we had reduced the morale and fighting ability of Caligus's army to basically nil. These were great times of rejoicing for the nobles of Fontan, morale and confidence ran at an all time high and we felt that victory was assured and that we held all the cards in our hands. These successes made Lord Klaus and Son of Patrick heroes in Fontan and they commanded an incredible amount of respect and admiration. However things in this world don't always turn out like you expect them to be, and we were all in for a rude shock as the nature of the war was about to change quickly and that victory we were so sure of was about to be stolen away from us by the watching eyes of Caligus's allies. We were young and arrogant, to a fault, and we were in for the hardest lesson of our lives.

The SA had been watching closely the recent developments in the Fontan-Caligus conflict and they were not liking what they saw. With their ally seemingly close to defeat, various SA countries began to approach Lord Klaus seeking treaties and agreements which would seal the future of Fontan and her role after the war. Fontan had previously signed an agreement with the SA, to only fight against Caligus and to stay out of the SA's crusade against Sirion. Perdan under King Gadouha approached Lord Klaus with an agreement regarding the territories of Nascot, Bescanon and Akesh Temple. At roughly the same time Ubent had approached Lord Klaus seeking an alliance, as their Dictator Ioshus stated that they were wishing to wage war against Perdan and would like to have our assistance. The council rejected Ubent's proposal as we were then on reasonably good terms with Perdan and in the middle of negotiations, but our negotiations with them stalled over Akesh Temple, which we were fearful of relinquishing because of its perceived strategic importance to both Fontan and Perdan. Perdan argued they wanted Akesh Temple as a buffer against Fontan, but we were wary of giving her up because we had fought they had no claim to a region we lost many lives for.

The negotiations stalled and then what is quite possibly the biggest diplomatic disaster in Fontanese history occurred. With Ubent's proposal for an alliance against Perdan rejected by the Fontanese Council, Ioshus told Perdan that Lord Klaus and Fontan were plotting to attack Perdan while we were negotiating with them and that Fontan approached Ubent about an alliance. Perdan seized on this as justification for declaring war on Fontan, along with Ubent and Oligarch. This came as the most horrific shock to the Council and people of Fontan and Lord Klaus appealed many times to the SA with evidence that it was Ubent not Fontan who was plotting against Perdan, but our pleas were unheard by their leadership. Many of us believe that the SA orchestrated the whole thing as a way to justify them giving assistance to Caligus and removing the threat of Fontan as a great power sympathetic to Sirion and Itorunt and to this day I am adamant that the claims brought against us by the SA were false. The SA at the time was very intertwined, led by many close families. The leader of Oligarch Lysander had a brother in Ubent called Illidorn who was high up in their leadership and Gadouha had a brother in Oligarch named Itthordai who also was high in their leadership. Because of the close family relationships between SA realms we felt that we had been set up and framed for something we did not do and many of us suspected that at the very least the Ruler of Oligarch knew the truth but he still took advantage of the situation and declared war upon us.

This diplomatic debacle was where everything changed for Fontan during the war and eventually led to our defeat. We quickly became from being the victors to being a realm under assault from the SA. Perdan intervened and assisted Caligus in taking back the regions we had won by ourselves, while Perdan's PMW Battle Group with Oligarch raped and pillaged our home regions while our armies were engaged to the South. We felt like we were ganged up upon and our morale and confidence vanished as we found ourselves incapable of withstanding such assaults. Lord Klaus seemed a broken man, he largely kept to himself and eventually resigned from the Chancellery under great stress and weary of the backstabbing and treachery of politics. We had decided then to ally ourselves with Sirion and her allies, effectively putting us in the "NA" bloc. It was then that Fontan went from winning a one-on-one war to losing a war against the SA.

It was during this tumultuous times that I decided to run for Chancellor of Fontan. I prepared a campaign speech and was elected as Fontan's new Chancellor, with Lord Alexi replacing me as Judge. I promised to reform how our government worked by removing the Council system and promoting a new system where foreign affairs and defence were handled by separate councils. In an effort to improve accountability, increase democracy, participation of our nobles in government, activity and most importantly increase the credibility of what is discussed in regards to foreign affairs as the lessons of what the SA had done to us showed the weakness of a closed Council system as they were able to say that we had no concrete proof, I opened up the Foreign Affairs group to any noble who was interested in diplomacy and who had served a month in our realm. The Defence Council was for military matters and was not an open forum. Also was of importance was that our closed Council was conservative and reactionary and I doubt that we would have accepted any peace agreement with Caligus, as our policy had been that we were not to talk to them or negotiate and the hatred for Caligus was deep throughout the realm. While today there have been additional changes to the system, it warms my heart to see that the framework still remains today and that during those dark times we were able to reform ourselves into a more democratic realm in the face of such adversity.

With the new Foreign Affairs group created I approached the King of Perdan and tried engaging with him to see if we could resolve the situation, no matter how slim the chances were. I attempted appealed to his better sensibilities, but he did not wish to listen and it was as if his mind was already made up. He stated that his goal was not to destroy Fontan but to remove her as a threat and it became increasingly apparent to me as we were pushed back to Tokat that our choices were becoming either sign peace with Caligus or die as a realm. I also tried discussing the matter with Lysander along with trying to sue peace between Coimbra and Oligarch but yet again there was no fruit to be bore on that front as both Oligarch and Perdan already had their plans for Fontan. One ruler of the SA who I found to be most helpful was Lady Sorcha, who sympathized with our situation and there was a growing animosity between Ibladesh and her allies, particularly Perdan and Ubent. Lady Sorcha wished for an end of the war between Itorunt and Ibladesh and a return to their great alliance, as friends. I helped facilitate some discussions between the two realms in an attempt to lay the groundwork for peace but what I found was there was far more resistance to the idea on the Itorunt side than Ibladesh, which was surprising since with Ibladesh on our side there was a chance that the continental war could overall turn to our favour. Another realm I found progress with was the realm of Old Rancagua, especially with its General Fuinir, who would eventually become its King. We were like minded individuals and discussed together strategies and ways we could help each other eventually turn the tide against the SA. Old Rancagua at the time was fighting Rancagua, its sister realm ruled by a Theocracy and we were able to work together to get some volunteers to join Old Rancagua, whose pressing problem was a lack of nobles. With many diplomatic avenues being explored, the new Foreign Affairs group was coming up with many ideas, some that we put into practice and others which we did not and probably seem amusing today. One such notion that was proposed by someone was that Fontan should sue peace with the SA and aid them in attacking Sirion, but obviously this did idea did not get off the drawing board.

With most of our options exhausted I asked the Foreign Affairs group to begin debating about peace with Caligus, which at the time was a taboo subject which many nobles thought the idea of was repulsive. I began discussions with Lady Gwynyth, Queen of Caligus and we made some progress, with what I remember to be the first official discussions between our two realms in quite a long time. Lady Gwynyth did seem interested in suing peace with us, far more interested than Gadouha at the time, but she also had to deal with a council that was as full of hatred as ours was.

It was during this time that my tenure as Chancellor eventually came to an end, after which was an amazing and unforgettable experience as Chancellor of Fontan in which I had the honour of being part of our history. What put an end to my career was that we had recently elected a General named Kylinn, who was enthusiastic about his job but he was unable to restrain himself and respect the seperation of powers that had been set up. Kylinn began to not only do his job as General, but also the role of Chancellor, by formulating agreements and conducting discussions with other Rulers without my approval and without any feedback and discussion in our Foreign Affairs group, in some ways taking the diplomacy of Fontan into his own hands and acting against the spirit of the reforms I implemented. After having a disagreement with him in which he would not stop pursuing his actions or respect the way our democracy works, I was eventually forced to resign and step down in protest, effectively ending his political career in the process.

After the end of my tenure as Chancellor, Lord Son of Patrick became the new Chancellor of Fontan and was ultimately successful in suing peace with Caligus, however the vote was very close and the realm was split on what to do. Many nobles wanted to fight to the death and for Fontan to disappear in honour, fighting against Caligus to the last man, while others felt that preserving the only democracy on the continent and what is a very special realm was worth more than fighting our hated enemy to the death. Fontan which at the peak of its success during the Fontan-Caligus war had territories which reached near the walls of Domus, had ended the war only with a few regions. While this defeat had bruised our morale and some of our ego's, the nobles of Fontan still had a strong sense of loyalty and honour to Fontan and our way of life was preserved throughout these trusting times. More turbulent times layed ahead for Fontan, but it was during the testing times ahead in which she was reborn like a rising Phoenix out of the ashes, restoring herself to her rightful place as a realm which commanded great respect as a formidable military power and as the greatest Democracy the world has ever seen again. It was during this time that I took a much needed break, and I would not reappear until months later when Fontan was on the rise again.