Skirmish on Holy Grounds

The Skirmish on Holy Grounds took place in the Holy City of Romantello, home to the Vlonsi people and birthplace of the Tekora Faith religion. This city holds major importance to the Andlirians as the oldest living city of Andlirian kind in the world, having been founded during the finding of Eldham, even though it was for most of its history in foreign control.
=== Background ===
==== International situation and Vlonsi-Amarillian relations ====
From the day Amarillo bought it from Katolis onwards, the city of Romantello was often neglected, its mayor, Urubis, being quite inactive there. Though, the Amarillian temporary government eventually signed a deal, the Romantello accords, with Vlonsi people from Pasifa, allowing them to resettle the historically Vlonsi town with Vlonsi people.
Though, afterwards, as the relations between Pasifa and Amarillo deteriorated, especially during the war of the Rising Tides, the Vlonsi complained more and more about alleged mistreatments of Romantello's population by the Amarillian government, which the Amarillians never understood, the Vlonsi always having had the exact same rights than the other Amarillian citizens. Defiance increased, though after and during the war, Romantello's situation was left untouched, both sides probably knowing they had more to lose than to win by trying to get rid of the other to take sole control of the town.
Around the end of Eldham, Romantello was still under Amarillo, and was still populated and led by Vlonsi people, mostly Pasifan double-citizens, including mayor Clover Rokalim, also one of the leaders of Pasifa. However, Amarillo's situation itself had changed a lot. Far from a leading Drakaen power, Amarillo was split into two. The Second Republic of Amarillo, which controlled Romantello and the vast majority of the mainland, was not an independent state anymore but was part of Zie Western Drakaes. The Second Kingdom of Amarillo was still independent but diminished vastly in size and power, being centered around Porphyropolis and confined in islands in the Drakaen sea and the sea of Gustavus, except for a very small bit of the Amarillian mainland. While they did not recognize each other's legitimacy officially, considering Amarillo should be united, the two Amarillian states were still very close to each other, even politically, sometimes being led by the same people. It is often considered late Amarillo was two separate states, but still one single nation.
==== Amarillano-Pasifan tensions ====
In late Eldham, from February 2024 onwards, Pasifa and Amarillo were in very heavy tension for various reasons.
It was found in early February 2024 that Clover Rokalim used the fact the northern part of Puerto Amarillo was left undefendedOOC : It was unclaimed because of in-game plugin shenanigans. after McBabwe's secession attempt to raid it, looting or destroying many homes, buildings and monuments. Among those buildings were the Solonist church, an arms workshop, and the monument to the League of Vircon, which was fully destroyed. Clover was then judged in absentia by an Amarillian court, and condemned to either pay a fine of 14999 to Consul and Vice-Mayor of Puerto Amarillo Soronaca, or to give up his mayor title in Romantello. However, Clover never complied.
Clover also repeatedly sabotaged the Vircon bridge, between Puerto Amarillo and Eradios, in Valreach, using explosives.OOC : As it is forbidden by server rules to sabotage roads, he was temporarily banned from the server on 27th of March 2024. After the trial, he went further in Valreach, despite the country having nothing to do with the tensions, and damaged several buildings in Nidaros, often linked to its past ties with Drakaes or Amarillo but in Valreach nevertheless.
Pasifa also claimed Mikanie City, an abandoned city south west of the Amarillian mainland coveted by the Kingdom of Amarillo. While the Pasifan annexation of Mikanie itself wasn't much of an issue for anyone, combined with the rest of the situation, it led some Amarillians to fear Pasifa was trying to expand as much as possible before the end of Eldham.
All these combined made the Drakaen and Amarillian Republican leadership worried Romantello would try and join Pasifa, through secession or an opportune Pasifan invasion. 
This led the Republic to make a move to make Romantello clarify its situation. On March 13 2024, Consul Liliana and Legate Velasco, representing Consul Soronaca as he can while away, ordered Clover to give up his mayor title in Romantello in under a week, this time not leaving him the choice between the fine or the town. In the case he didn't comply, Romantello would be considered by the Republic a settlement in open rebellion and treated as such. Unsurprisingly, he would not comply.
The Kingdom of Amarillo got involved for various reasons, some of the main ones being that at that point, most of the Republic's leadership was composed of important figures of the Kingdom, that Romantello's expansion and potential secession was seen as a threat for the Kingdom's little mainland territory, and that the Kingdom still saw itself as the main beacon of Drakaen cultural heritage, and as such condemned heavily the destructions in Nidaros and on the Vircon bridge. The Kingdom of Amarillo, through the RSS, coordinated the efforts of the two Amarillos and Drakaes through the crisis from the 14 March 2024 onwards, in "Operation Drunken Bargainings", aiming to prevent Pasifa from annexing Romantello.
==== The Alcázar de Poniente and the surrounding of Romantello ====
On March 16 2024, a wall was built at the border between Pasifan Mikanie and the Western Drakaen exarchates of the Republic of Amarillo and Takavia by Amarillian forces led by Queen of the Kingdom of Amarillo Josefina de Porphyropolis, with some involvement from friendly Valrean factions (the country was very divided in huge internal power struggles), leading some Amarillians to, for the joke's sake, hang VCC banners on the wall.
The Amarillano-Drakaens noticed Romantello was artificially expanded by Clover, who built new houses and made the city biggerOOC : In game, this expansion of the city included an expansion of the claim, which was what worried his adversaries the most. despite its population not significantly increasing. It was seen by his adversaries as a way to claim more land in case he seceded with the town. This was further backed by the fact the few newly recruited Romantello citizens were guided to the Pasifan administrative authorities by Clover instead of the Amarillian ones.OOC : Newly recruited players in Romantello were brought by Clover in Pasifa's discord and not Amarillo's, despite the town still being Amarillian and no secession, even unilateral, having been officially announced yet.
A few days after the Amarillian order to give up mayorship, on March 18, the mayor of Romantello Clover Rokalim was building more housing for the city until spotting a strange structure across the river, looking like a fort. Once closer inspection was made, he noticed the fort was made by Amarillians and Drakaens, who hung Western Drakaen flags along with Amarillian national and provincial ones, even accompanied by Soronaca's old personal banner, unused for ages, despite him not being personally involved in the establishment of the fort. However, once Romantello tried to make contact, they were unprovokingly attacked by the members in the Amarillian fort, starting a journey of fights.This is Clover's view of the event. Research hasn't been made yet to have a more objective view of the event, but what is sure is that fighting ensued. The garrison of the Alcázar de Poniente, however, reported to the Cónsuls that the first aggression was conducted by soldiers in Romantello, who began shooting arrows at the walls of the Alcázar. After some time under enemy fire, a skirmish from the Alcázar to the walls of Romantello ended with casualities among the Vlonsi.At the same time, soldiers based in Verdesburg, an Amarillian town, also surrounded RomantelloOOC : The town was surrounded by using the Verdesburg claim with the claim plugin. For RP reasons, it is of course described with more in universe terms here. to prevent it from expanding further, led mostly by Queen and mayor of Verdesburg Josefina de Porphyropolis, Virreina of the Kingdom and Consul of the Republic Liliana de las Mareas and Drakaen official Maria Canalopin. The surrounding of the town, too costly in men, was quickly abandonned, allowing the town to continue its expansion, this time without even new buildings.As snake claiming is illegal by server rules, Delta and Tiff (players of Liliana and Maria) were banned in the last days of Eldham, and the surrounding claim was removed.
That day, the Amarillians also noticed Clover had built a statue in the glory of the legendary founder of Andliria in the newly expanded parts of Romantello.
== Notes and references ==
Category:Amarillo
Category:Drakaes
Category:Events
Category:Traveler's Era