Great Western War

Fought: 1589-1627
Belligerents:
Empire of Trynser, Venteel, Istrican, Igonia, Erendor, Nanduchar, Dalland and Arumelian rebels, various Sargan States.
vs.
Pengaldia, Zazimar, Aladar, Arumelia, Dallandy, Olandra, Thissaly, various Sargan states and Härag tribes.
vs.
Millisymph
Result: Both sides claim victory, Trynser strategically stronger but devastated. Arumelia shattered.
The Great Western War was a devestating war that lasted nearly forty years and was fought on a grand scale from Lamadien to Trynser, across northwestern Dantenna, on the Dragon Seas, the Eastern Sithonian Ocean, the Sinking Sea, the Intamerack Sea, and at points around the world. In addition to the apalling military casaulties, victims of massacres, and numerous executions, the areas affected were struck by famine and disease causing in total casaulties in the millions.
The war began with a conflict between Istrican and Arumelia over control of islands in the eastern part of the Western Sea. One of Arumelia’s motives was the concern over Trynser’s growing strength, especially considering the defeat of Pengaldia in the Athalia War. Securing the islands would bolster Arumelia’s security. Pengaldia and another ally, Dallandy, readily agreed and supported their neighbor over the objections of the Empire. For the first five years, the war was fought across the islands, the powerful coalition winning one hard battle after another over Istrican.
In the meantime, Venteelan merchants were having a difficult time trading to the west because of Thissally. The kingdom demanded unreasonable taxes and served as a haven for pirates who freely raided the rich Venteelan ships. The Venteelans tried to sail past Thissally in a convoy of nearly two dozen ships, but the entire convoy fell in a savage attack. Thissally lamely tried to claim it was the work of pirates but Venteel didn’t buy it. In 1594, war broke out, with Venteelan ships punishing Thissallan vessels across the Intamerack Sea. The gnomish nation of Igonia, having their own bones to pick with Thissally, joined in.
Also at the same time, Trynsern and Zazimar forces were having their own dispute over the Iralian Islands between Landagar and Casterria. Both nations mobilized brigade sized forces to fight over the islands, but both tried to keep the conflict localized, neither being up for a general conflict at the time.
This would have remained a case of three separate wars at the same time, but one day, a flotilla of Venteelan merchantmen encountered five Thissallan ships at the Imperial port of Lydaelia. When the Thissallans sailed out as a group, the heavily armed Venteelans pursued them and a sharp battle erupted outside the bay, much to the entertainment of the Lydaelians.
The Thissalins were defeated, and the Venteelans unabashedly sold their prize cargos in Lydaelia. Full details of the encounter reached the king of Thissally, who strongly protested to the Empire. Trynser, having had to deal with Thissallan taxes and pirates themselves, was not sympathetic. Thissaly and Zazimar formed a secret alliance, and soon powerful Zazimar ships were fighting and sinking Venteelan and Igonian vessels. Small swift Thissalin raiders darted between the Iralian islands supporting Zazimar troops and ships. Trynser tried to keep the conflict low-key, but after Thissallan raiders seized a ship full of weapons intended for the Imperial forces and distributed them among the Pengaldians, Trynser declared war on Thissally. By the terms of the secret treaty, Zazimar then declared war on Trynser, and the general war that both countries sought to avoid erupted. The Imperial Blue and Gold Fleets, the cream of their navy sailed straight for the Iralian islands stuffed with marines from Delternas, Mantius, and Trynser City and fought a year long campaign that not only saw them pacify the Iralian Islands, but seizing the Starreach Islands as well. In the meantime, the Zazimar army plunged into Casterria. Imperial reinforcements from Askordia, Suledaria, and eventually Minadas came to the front and after a few months of wild maneuver warfare fell into a dreary battle between fortified positions that lasted for the duration of the conflict.
The war with Istrican was going well for Arumelia and its friends. The Istrican navy was destroyed, many islands had fallen and the rest were cut off from their parent nation by sea. The Trynsern fleet in Athalia did not like that stretch of ocean being firmly in the grasp of its rivals, but Emperor Baldwin was concerned about developments with Zazimar and was reluctant to commit to the northern war. This made much of the heavy fighting ships of the Arumelia-Pengaldia-Dallandy alliance surplus in the Western Sea and King Veldin of Pengaldia suggested leasing them to Thissally to shore up the anti-Trynsern alliance down there.
But Dallandy and Arumelia found they had problems at home. The Illunder family in Dallandy had long been rivals with the ruling Beruindlia family for the throne. Arumelia never had the firmest grip on the myriad counties and baronies away from the capital. Both ruling factions had the lion’s share of their troops away fighting Istrican, and the rival provinces decided that they were not going to support the war any more. Open rebellion broke out here and there.
Imperial Inquisition agents, who brought Pengaldia to its knees in the last war, quickly entered a dialogue with the Arumelia and Dallandy rebels. Mutual assistance treaties were drafted after certain future guarantees were made. Spotting a weakness in its western rivals and citing the alliance’s assistance of Thissally, Trynser declared war.
Aladar declared war on Trynser soon afterwards, as per treaty with Pengaldia. This activated another treaty with Erendor that if Aladar intervened in a war between Trynser and Pengaldia, Erendor could consider their long-standing enemies Aladar open game. The minor kingdom of Olandra supported their larger neighbors Thissaly and Arumelia, though their participation was lackluster. Sargan states and Härag clans chose sides, and the entire west was embroiled in war.
The reorganized Pengaldian army shocked the Trynserns with its efficiency, organization, and training. The Pengaldian army breached the fortified borders of Karninia and Manebia in three days and by the end of the first year of hostilities had captured Athalia and were beseiging Duranian and Kerasta. The desperate Trynserns were forced to concentrate its army strength on fending off the Pengaldian assault, even siphoning off Dantennan troops from the war with Zazimar. Despite this, Kerasta fell the next year, and Duranian the year after. The city of Relanda held out as a last salient into the Pengaldian conquests, and that city was desperately fortified and supplied through the Nance River from Delternas.
Venteelan agents purchased the loyalty of the Thissalin baron of Krentharin, which was then a province on Thissaly’s borders, and Venteel, Igonia, and to a lesser extent Trynser used that barony as a springboard for attacks into Thissaly, which sued for peace two years later. Thissalin provinces north of the Gulf of Forinse went renegade as well. To the northeast, the rebel Arumelian province of Celebrund offered the Trynsern fleet an anchorage in return for assistance against their masters, an offer the Trynserns eagerly accepted as they wished to bottle up the flow of supplies from Pengaldia and their allies to the southern nations.
As the Pengaldian armies were tremendously successful against Trynser following king Veldin’s reorganization after the earlier war, Veldin felt confident in risking some of his forces in a foreign venture. Veldin decided to sieze the Millisymph Canal with the aid of his Arumelian allies, and thus be able to threaten the Trynsern-Igonian-Venteelan naval supremacy to the south. This he was able to do without much trouble, and he sailed a fleet through to engage the Trynsern fleet off of Celebrund. The surprise engagement was a tactical victory for Pengaldia, but many Trynsern galleys were able to row away to safety in several calm weather days after the battle. Squadrons of Trynsern galleys continued to harry Pengaldian supplies for months afterwards.
Eventually, after the Trynsern veterans of the Iralian Islands campaign had pacified Starreach, they were sent up north for a counteroffensive in Millisymph. The Trynsern forces battled their way up the canal until they beseiged the Millisymph capital of Durmando, where the Pengaldian army was based. In the meantime, the Millisymph King Gerald (called Rei Gerald in Millisymph) was organizing his own force to expel the invaders. Trynser and Pengaldia destroyed the city in their battle, and finally King Gerald showed up with his native army and recaptured his capital, forcing both invaders to retreat and give up control of the canal.
As years wore on, the awesome campaigns of early in the war dragged out into a dreary defensive warfare. Over the years, Trynser was able to eventually squeeze Pengaldia out of the lands it occupied, not by any grand counteroffensive, but by sharp, small but deadly attacks in the smaller dominions around the heavily fortified cities. The Trynserns were forced to employ foreign mercenaries to free their own lands. Another development was to aid the Trynserns in their cause was the development of Demon Dust weapons as an intregal arm of the military by the Mordh’Dhagai clan who took advantage of the crisis and their specialized knowledge to earn themselves many legal and political advantages.
Eventually, dozens of separate peaces were settled, and the war petered away pathetically to a close. Militarily, the Empire of Trynser was spent and did not really give that well an account of itself during the war, but politically it was in a much improved position. Zazimar was driven out of the Intamerack Sea, and the Empire now had the Starreach Islands to boot. The Arumelian Empire was shattered and its decline continued to its eventual death a hundred and fifty years later. Dallandy was ruled by a new family that was not as hostile, and Pengaldia had been prevented from expanding its influence south of Millisymph. Thissaly was chastised and lost its borders. And finally, Trynser had more friendly ports to the west to help their foreign doctrine.
On the other hand, Istrican had lost its island possessions, Erendor was held off at all fronts by Aladar, and Trynser was humiliated by a series of early defeats and suffered devestation to many of its major cities to the west, including Duranian and Kerasta, the capitals of Karninia and Manebia. In addition, Athalia remained in Pengaldian possession for over sixty more years.
Category:Battles and Wars