Great War

The Great War was a massive conflict involving many of Europa's dominant superpowers. Millions of soldiers were killed and the ground on which the battles took place on became a mass graveyard for a lost generation.

In the wake of the war, radical reformations were passed by each nation's governments which saw the liberalisation of much of Europa societies. However, tensions remain high as the memories of the past continue to haunt those who remain.

## History

### Context

Conflict erupted shortly after a group of soldiers from the Varangian Guard ransacked a town full of Leidish on the edge of Minathrawlian territory. A division of Leiden soldiers moved in to save the settlement from the Minathrawlians, driving the attackers to the Varangian Wall. The Leidish managed to capture a small platoon of men, incapacitated due to their injuries, and sent them on a prison train to the Leidish capital of Essnau.

When word reached the Minathrawlian capital that some members of the Varangian Guard were being held captive, he sent a diplomatic envoy to negotiate for their release. However, the nature of the Leidish state dictates immediate action to be taken on the offenders. On the orders of the Kaiser himself, the hostages were publicly executed in Winter Square. Enraged, Emperor Hagrid declared war against the Leidish to avenge the 'honourable warriors of the Varangian Guard', but the truth is always far more complicated. In reality, the war was a culmination of decades of tension among the Europan empires. The formation of the Leidenschaftlich Empire destabilised the balance of power in the region. Once a collection of fractured states, the industrial heart of Europa united after a brief conflict with the Novgoradians drove the small kingdoms in the region to unite around the Kingdom of Leiden. With central Europa under Leidish control, the empire expanded exponentially on all aspects of state, from its industrial output -- which tripled in the span of ten years -- to its militarised population. To combat the growing threat, the Albans signed a pact in which the Alban Empire will come to the Minathrawlians aid in the event of a war with the Leiden Empire. The Novgorodians, bitter from their defeat at the hands of the Leidens, joined the pact, forming the Triple Alliance.

### Western Front

#### The Fall of the Varangian Wall

When war first broke out on July 4th, the Leidish army mobilised its forces to the Minathrawlian-Leidish border located thirty kilometres away from the Varangian Wall. Confident, the Minathrawlians decided to amass its troops on the walls, thinking that the Leidish will simply retreat once they realise they cannot break the iron defences of Minathrawl. However, the Minathrawlians did not realise that technology had advanced rapidly in the past few decades. The Leidish pounded the walls with the artillery guns they purchased from the Dwarves of Afrike. Piece by piece, the wall began to fall apart. Huge chunks blown into bits. Men died where they stood, and the military command near the wall realised that the wall will not hold. Its defences were obsolete to the weapons of the modern era. They sounded the retreat of their forces from the wall to the Black Fortresses, some hundred kilometres away from the wall. As the retreat was sounded, the Leidish forces barraged the wall with a ferocity unmatched by the Gods themselves. Then, the unthinkable happened. The great Varangian Walls which have stood vigilantly for centuries collapsed. Men fell from their stations to their demise, and as they fall, their eyes could hardly fathom the sight they saw -- a massive army of men and machinery, ready to destroy their country once and for all.