The Golden War

The Golden War was a legendary conflict between the Kingdom of Vichin and the Golden Horde, fought from 1409 to 1420, ending with the fall of the Horde, which had dominated the Westerlands, harassing the surrounding nations, including Vichin, for nearly 200 years. In the aftermath, Vichin was able to annex the remaining Westerland states. These remained as protectorates of Vichin until the Western War of 1428. 
== Background ==
In the early 15th century, the might and power of the Golden Horde had reached unprecedented heights. From his capital at Nazgorod the Witch Emperor Anton Nagy III continued to launch raids deep into Magiore, Vichin, and Carinthia, as well as Corveaux and even Valona. Time and time again, lords and rulers, engaged in their own local conflicts, failed to hold back the encroach of the Horde. If they gained a victory, it was only ever to push them back temporarily. 
Meanwhile, Vichin was recovering from a bloody Civil War, which was ended with the ascension of the 10-year-old Hedwig Martel, of Vichinian and Maegar descent, after her marriage to the Carinthian Prince Florence II Barcley-de-Tolly, who had already led several decisive attacks against the Horde at the time. A Vichin-Carinthian union with Princess Emma of Carinthia was established and Queen Hedwig Martel had the support of the King and Queen of Magiore, Elisabeth of Vichin and Sigurd of Thyssen. In a span of a few years, a powerful Central Magnian alliance had formed. 
== Prelude ==
In May 1409, an uprising took place in the Golden Horde-controlled Sobina. The locals violently attempted to resist the Horde's rule. Although the first uprising was unsuccessful, the second gained the support of Emma of Carinthia, and finally succeeded in expelling the Horde, who subsequently threatened to invade Carinthia. Vichin announced its support for the Carinthian cause and threatened to invade the Westerlands in return. As the forces of the Golden Horde evacuated Sobina, Anton Nagy III declared war on the Kingdom of Vichin and the Principality of Carinthia. 
The Horde hoped to defeat the Vichinian and Carinthian forces separately and began invading the Duchy of Kizlev and the Carinthian holdings around the town of Rook, catching both countries by surprise. They burned the castle of Van Fort at Thusham and captured Rook after a 14-day siege, sacking several smaller towns in the region. The Carinthians managed to recapture Rook, while Vichin repelled the forces at Thusham, but neither side was ready for a full-scale war. A temporary truce was signed on the 8th of October 1409 which was set to last for half a year. Both sides spent this time preparing for battle, mustering troops and engaging in diplomatic manoeuvrers. Both vied for an alliance with Magiore, but due to the royal family's strong ties with Queen Hedwig, and the many atrocities committed by the Horde, they inevitably sided with Vichin. Angered, Anton Nagy sent 300.000 doubloons to King Eyke III of Thyssen, who had ambitions for the Principality of Carinthia, for his military assistance. 
== First Invasion ==
By December 1409, Emma and Florence had agreed on a common strategy: their armies would unite into a single massive force and march together towards Nazgorod, the capital of the Golden Horde. Anton Nagy, who was taking a defensive position, was not expecting a joint attack, instead preparing to face the Vichinians by the Karapos River with their main host, while a smaller army with support from Thyssen would hold back the Carinthians. He had placed the bulk of his troops by the town of Bhaal, from where he could quickly respond to invasions from any direction. Wanting to keep their plan secret, both Florence and Emma organised small skirmishes on both fronts, forcing the Horde to keep their troops in place.
Finally, on July 3rd 1410, the joint Vichin-Carinthian army crossed the Wrynova River by Thusham and the massive force began its march on Nazgorod. As soon as Anton Nagy grasped the army's intentions, he sent word for his northern forces to march south, left a small garrison at Bhaal and marched his main force to organise a line of defence on the Karapos River, near the town of Kárpova. 
Seeing this, the Vichinian army decided against crossing the river at such a strongly defensible position. They instead hoped to bypass the river crossing by turning west, towards its sources. The Horde did not immediately give chase. Still waiting on their northern forces, Anton Nagy was hesitant to meet their enemy in pitched battle. On the 13th of July, the Vichin-Carinthian army crossed the Karapos near the town of Kenkow and entered the territories of the Horde. 
=== The Raid on Karneth ===
The armies of Florence and Emma looted and robbed the towns and villages of the Karneth region. They plundered a large amount of the region's wealth, which was sent to relieve the city of Sobina, and wherever they went, King Florence would burn forests and and salt the fields. The intention was clearly to devastate the lands of the Horde entirely. This shocked Anton Nagy and his officers.
With the Horde's armies finally joined, Anton Nagy scrambled to resist the Vichinian onslaught. He sent his son Casimir ahead with a vanguard of 6.000 while his main host made its way west. Many of the Horde's soldiers, especially their regiments of Trolls were not yet confident in Casimir's military capabilities and as they neared the Vichin-Carinthian army, large-scale desertions occurred. Casimir did not offer much resistance to the invaders and was nearly captured before narrowly escaping into a nearby forest. On August 3rd, the two armies met near the town of Vrath.
=== Battle of Vrath ===
Anton Nagy's plan was to pull back from the invaders as soon as battle was met, hoping for an opportunity to surround his enemy. Though the army of Florence and Emma outnumbered his, the Horde was much better equipped for the terrain and was bolstered by a free company of Attalan Light Cavalry. A heavy fog had descended over the area when King Florence finally marched forward to lead the attack. A lengthy, hard-fought battle ensued that lasted from sunrise until late afternoon. 
The armies seemed to be at a standstill, which only ended when a horse carrying Anton Nagy's banner was pierced by a spear. The soldiers of the Horde, seeing the banner fall, assumed their leader was dead and began to flee. The Vichin-Carinthian army took advantage of this and struck hard, turning the tide of battle in their favour. 
=== Siege of Nazgorod ===
After the battle, the Vichin-Carinthian forces marched on the Horde's capital at Nazgorod. Before they could arrive, however, Anton Nagy and the rest of his army had managed a full retreat, with enough time to organize the cities defences. Florence and Emma were not prepared for a lengthy siege and Prince Eyke of Thyssen was threatening to march south and relieve the city. The siege was lifted on September 19th. Florence left garrisons in the few fortresses they had managed to capture, but upon retreating to Magiore, these were quickly recaptured by the Horde. 
In Magiore, Florence raised a fresh army and dealt another defeat to the Horde in the Battle of Kárpova on October 10th. Following this, and other brief engagements, both sides agreed to negotiate and on February 1st 1411, the Peace of Horns was signed, wherein Anton Nagy agreed to yield Sobina to the Kingdom of Magiore and pay an immense amount of money, which nearly brought the Horde to financial ruin and forced them to borrow from Thyssen. In return, Vichin and Carinthia agreed to leave their territory and not to return.
== Second Invasion ==
After the severe defeat suffered by the Horde at Vrath and the ensuing political, military and economic problems, the state was rife with internal conflict between the Horde and the native Westerland lords. In March of 1414, the city of Mireem rebelled against the Horde and sought the protection of the new Prince of Sobina, who had recently been recognized by Magiore. Anton Nagy immediately took this as a mortal threat, brought on by Sobina, and hastily moved to recapture the city, installing an alarming number of troops there. The nobles of Magiore quickly began to fear invasion.
As the assault on Sobina was a direct breach of the Peace of Horns, Vichin declared war against the Horde on the 4th of April. However, Emma of Carinthia refused to aid her brother this time and even went so far as to negotiate with Prince Eyke of Thyssen instead. This meant that although Florence was King of Vichin and Carinthia, the principality sent no aid during most of the ensuing war. Even so, the situation was quite good for Vichin, as with enough preparation, they could still field a larger army than Anton Nagy, and no outside state were likely to intervene after the breach of their peace treaty.
=== Skirmish Warfare ===
The first clashes happened from August 1414 to February 1415 and were mostly carried out by local lords rebelling against the Horde, as well as Maegar warlords attempting to beat back the Horde from Sobina. They were supported by mercenaries from Valona and Metina. 
In the meantime, there was some support for the Golden Horde in Thyssen and Carinthia. Reinforcements entered the Westerlands in March of 1415. They were able to take the highly important strategic city of Kárpova, allowing the Golden Horde a much better defensive position on the Karapos River than during the previous invasion. With the support of Carinthia, Anton Nagy also did not need to worry about incursions from the north and could focus his attention on bolstering his southern borders. 
At the end of 1415, Queen Elizabeth of Magiore laid siege to Kárpova, attempting to retake the town. In January of 1416, King Florence aided Elizabeth with 4.000 troops and began to launch assaults on Nagy's coastal holdings, landing small armies on the banks of Turokh's Eye. However, the Horde defended themselves skilfully and were able to defeat multiple forces, including a massive and sudden attack on the town of Ylvanesh on September 13th. 
The situation was not going as well as Florence had hoped, and was worsened further when a large force of Valonian mercenaries, paid for by Anton Nagy, arrived in Magiore through Sobina. The army consisted of 3.000 infantry and 500 Attalan Light Cavalry riders. Cutting through the Aral Highlands, taking the town of Kenkow, it moved to rescue Kárpova from Elizabeth's siege. This made King Florence muster all of his vassals in the duchies of Kizlev and Bedegar, without the traditional approval of the Dukes and Duchesses. Angered by the disruption of the harvest, nobles and freemen amassed near Kurow, threatening rebellion. Florence finally managed to quell their anger with extensive new trade rights and town privileges.
=== The Battle of Sashow ===
In November of 1416, Florence crossed the Wrynova and marched towards Kárpova. Here, the Vichin army once again met with the Golden Horde bu the banks of the Sashow River, where they suffered a major defeat. The defeat was a near disaster, forcing Florence to withdraw to Brudavord and allowing the Horde to take several large towns in Magiore, such as Olgimskaya and Dubrikin. 
This was a great victory for the Horde, who seemed poised to become rulers of the entirety of the Westerlands, although they lacked enough money to pay their victorious mercenaries. On October 9th, Anton Nagy promised them that if he could not pay them by February 1417, they would receive all cities, castles, and lands of Magiore. To save the situation, Florence started hiring more mercenary soldiers and decided to muster all of his vassals, calling every banner in Vichin at once, promising more privileges to the several newly angered lords. 
=== Turning the Tides ===
In Decemer of 1416, the remaining Vichinian host entered the West and immediately laid siege to Dubrikin, while Florence attacked Olgimskaya. The two forces met at Dubrikin, where the local garrison soon surrendered. This time, Anton Nagy avoided battle, as it was too risky. A fortnight later, Vichin finally managed to take Kárpova after a brief siege, forcing the Horde to retreat from Kenkow to Sobina. 
The first negotiations between the two sides were conducted in January of 1417, but were unsuccessful. The situation only became more difficult for both sides. Florence was forced to borrow money from the Cister Cartian church to feed his army as the steppe-land of Magiore provided little food for his soldiers and their horses. At the same time, Anton Nagy was unable to pay his mercenaries and they took the town of Ylvanesh and his capital city of Nazgorod, while Nagy was in Bhaal. The mercenaries in Nazgorod immediately began negotiations with Vichin to discuss selling the city, but Florence was unable to pay.
After that, the situation came to a standstill. The Horde was able to retake Nazgorod. In autumn of 1417, the peasants of the Horde's eastern holdings, tired of war, revolted against their rule, but were subdued by January of 1418. Land-based military actions were limited to small-scale raids and skirmishes on both sides of the Karapos River. With help from the local lords of Magiore, Florence managed to take Sobina and began incursions into the Horde's holdings west of the Aral Highlands. In May 1418, Anton Nagy caught wind that Florence was buying ships and hired privateers to capture trade ships on Turokh's Eye for himself, which caused a conflict with Carinthia. Eventually, Princess Emma dropped her support for the Horde and rejoined her brother's cause. 
== The Final Conflict ==
In spring of 1429, Vichin had managed to entirely liberate the Horde's holdings west of the Aral Highlands. The combined armies of Vichin and Carinthia, as well as Magiore, and the small levies of local nobles encroached on the heartland of the Golden Horde from two sides. The main host under Landon Byways cross the Karapos River, while Florence approached from the West, through the treacherous Blackfen Gorge of the Aral Highlands. While Byways razed the countryside, Florence marched directly to Nazgorod, reaching the city on August 10th. This time, he was well-equipped for a long siege. The siege, however, was another fiasco, partly due to lengthy negotiations, and partly to a lack of aggression on his side.
Florence's inept leadership allowed the siege to drag on. His vassals demanded the storming of the city, and when this did not happen, many started deserting and returning to Vichin and Magiore. To avoid loosing the rest of his army to restlessness, Florence dispersed them into the countryside to raid and plunder, which eventually allowed Anton Nagy to break the siege and pursue the scattered armies. The Horde defeated small Vichinian forces on multiple occasions, until a gathered Vichin-Carinthian army finally confronted Anton Nagy's forces. 
=== The Battle of Wyrmsmoke ===
On October 15th, the two armies met near the village of Wyrmsmoke. The Vichin-Carinthian side numbered around 26.500 strong, while the Horde fielded around 21.000. Anton Nagy hoped to provoke the Vichinians or Carinthians into a hasty attack and eventually managed to lure Princess Emma into hasty action. 
Emma charged against the Horde but after more than an hour of fighting, the Carinthian cavalry began a full retreat. The Horde gave pursuit but was quickly met with the Vichinian line, as the two warlords had hoped. It seemed, the hasty charge was a calculated ploy. Heavy fighting began between Florence and Nagy's forces, even reaching the Vichinian camp. One knight of the Horde charged directly at Florence, but he was saved by Duke Landon Byways. Then, the Carinthian cavalry fell in their enemy's rear. Amid all the chaos, Anton Nagy III, in his black runic armour and wielding a massive morningstar which would crack like thunder wherever it was brought down, cut through the Vichinian centre with his most trusted knights and 100 armoured infantry, but was finally slain in single combat by a young Barrister Croy, earning him his knighthood. 
Surrounded and leaderless, the Golden Horde began to retreat. The defeat of the Horde was resounding. Around 11.000 soldiers were killed, including most of their highest ranking officers.
== Aftermath ==
After the decisive defeat of the Golden Horde and the death of Anton Nagy III, his state crumbled. King Florence was able to take Nazgorod on February 7th, 1420, and unpaid mercenary groups turned over any holdings yet unconquered. It was an immense success for Vichin and marked a drastic political change in the Westerlands and Central Magnia. Nearly 200 years of tyranny had been brought to and end. 
With the conclusion of the Golden War in 1420, the Kingdom of Vichin was able to annex the entire Westerland region, while King Eyke III of Thyssen, for supporting the Horde, was forced to submit to Florence. Many local lords were happy at first to gain Vichinian protection, while the rest were too weak to resist, and Florence's brother was made Grand Duke of the West, but his poor redrawing of the Westerland borders caused deep local resentment. New Vichinian duchies and protectorates were established with little regard for local cultures or historical borders. It was this, along with Florence's heavy-handed declarations, that later caused much of the West to rise in rebellion against Vichin, during the Western War.