Thornian Civil War (2021)

The **Thornian Civil War** of 2021 was fought between the Thornian rump state centred in Goruid and the warlord-controlled Aphthonis. The war was sparked by the poorly timed Cataracta Agreement which saw the merger of the League of Palus and Great Thornia, but with little to no new policies or provisions for the re-stabilisation of the region in the aftermath of The Great Plague, the Second Pillager War, and the Xandu Crisis.

## History

### Cataracta Agreement (August 2021)

The signing of the Cataracta Agreement in August 2021 signaled the end of the division of the Umic world between the League of Palus and the Kingdom of Great Thornia. However it did not bring an end to the chaos that enveloped the region for much of the year. Almost immediately after signing of the treaty, food shortages throughout the territories led to civil unrest and uprisings. Widespread mutinities throughout the still-active Thornian Army led to much of Goruid and Aphthonis falling into the hands of warlords and native tribal nations. To make matters worse, some warlords and tribes claimed allegiance to the Thornian monarchy and not to the UTA.

By the start of September 2021, nearly all of Aphthonis was in the hands of mutineering legions around settlements like Smarna, Anipoxis, Kontar, Okthi, Chamos, and Meros.

### Rebellion of The Neck (September 2021 - November 2021)

The two legions of Maritime Legion III and Maritime Legion IV (legions I and II were based in Aphthonis and Petrodis, whilst all the land-based legions defected to join the Aphthonic factions) were mobilised to put down rebellions in The Neck.

The **Battle of the Neck** saw Legion IV get wiped out after protracted fighting across several towns. Rebelling townfolk were encircled in Adanon, where they were besieged during the last few days of October in the **Siege of Adanon**, before being defeated by the start of November. The Aphthonic legions besieged Volovna and Legion I, but was relieved by the arrival of Legion III, straight from The Neck. By the middle of November, the rebels surrendered.

The **Treaty of Raiga** saw the surviving rebels spared. The treaty granted free trading rights to the townspeople across The Neck.

### War in Aphthonis (October 2021 - December 2021)

The surprising victories of the remnants of the Thornian Army in Goruid in September caused a stir amongst the leadership of the various mutineer cliques in Aphthonis. Some cliques such as Anipoxis and Kontar called for a temporary alliance amongst all Aphthonic legions to prepare for an inevitable offensive by the Thornian Army from Petrodis (Maritime Legion II) and Goruid (then the I, III, and IV legions). Smarna insisted on each region fighting for itself, whilst Okthi, Chamos, and Meros were fighting for control of the south-eastern region amongst themselves.

The Okthi clique launched a renewed offensive against Chamos and Meros in early October (known as the **October South-East Offensive**) them made heavy use of guerilla warfare and surprise cavalry charges into settlements. Within a week, both the Chamos and Meros cliques' leadership were forced to surrender, upon which they declared their allegiance to the Okthi clique leadership. The combined south-eastern forces quickly marched on Petrodis, where they spared Legion II and allowed them to join their ranks. Anipoxis and Kontar quickly agreed to submit to the command of the Okthi clique. An unauthorised **Invasion of Smarna** by the Anipoxis clique led to the Smarna clique surrendering and joining the new combined army. The Okthi clique leadership setup their base in Petrodis, where they oversaw the defeat of the smaller royal garrisons in Sabara, Fylakasanisi, and even managed to capture the Galinisian Islands whilst the Goruidian legions were busy fighting in the Siege of Volovna.

After the signing of the Treaty of Raiga, Legion III regrouped in Palus with the Palusian and Cataractan militias before heading north to the Grimsaurs mountain range within Shuxian's Domain in the hopes of forcing the Aphthonic legions to fight on their own home turf. The royal forces intended on launching a massive offensive in the Dobrado Prefecture (the south-western corner of Aphthonis), which would have hopefully forced the Aphthonic forces in Galinisia to retreat back on to the mainland. This would have allowed Legion I to launch a maritime offensive directly on Sabara and Petrodis. To the surprise of the royal forces, the Aphthonis legions were also crossing into the Grimsaurs at the same time. This led to the now legendary **Battle of the Grimsaurs**. Details of the exact battle sequence are scarce, but much of the royal-aligned legions and militias were largely crushed or defected throughout the 3 week battle. Both sides suffered incredibly large casualties. Despite this, the Aphthonic legions emerged victorious and resumed their march south and captured Palus, Cataracta, and eventually Elysia with no resistance. The entire Umic Transitional Authority government was arrested and imprisoned. The royal family had fled the capital by then with their current location unknown. The Aphthonic legions installed a military junta to oversee the governance of Thornia, and declared the creation of a new **People's Republic of Thornia**. It also annexed all the lands and settlements held by the defunct League of Palus. This effectively brought an end to the Umic Transitional Authority.

## Aftermath

The government of the People's Republic of Thornia initiated the Thornian constitutional convention a month after the end of the war. The convention nearly brought Thornian and Aphthonic nationalist to war, but ended with the recognition of Aphthonis as an equal partner in a new political arrangement, Thornia-Aphthonis. The League of Palus was also annexed into Thornia, with this new union being named the Union of Thornia and Ume.

This new arrangement did not last long as the former Thornian monarchy managed to regain power through conspiratorial activity by the Order of the Golden Trident. The monarchy initially accepted the order's assistance in regaining power by promising to implement the promises of the new union, but it quickly proved itself duplicituous by reinstanting the former constitution of Great Thornia. The order supposedly managed to either convince or blackmail the monarch into stepping down and making way for republican rule under the new Reformist Party.

The party did not implement the promised constitution of the Union of Thornia and Ume, but amended the restored constitution with the more important changes (such as self-governance of the provinces and figurehead status for the head of state). The Reformist Party government also collaborated with the order and the surviving members of Thornian Army intelligence to create a new Armed Forces of Thornia-Aphthonis. The new armed forces did away with the legionary system (replacing it with the smaller, more agile brigades) and instead focused on defensive capabilities instead of offensive. The Reformist Party also began implementing new commerce laws that separated the government treasury from the personal coffers of members of government. This in turn saw the revival of various commercial practices from the early days of Ume City.