The War of Unification

**The War of Unification** started not on a battlefield but in a bedroom. For centuries the Olmeric Empire had mostly kept to itself, focusing on acts of piety and penance. Until one night when Empress Olmae XIV was awakened by a blinding light. Olmae XIV was horrified and shouted for her personal guard when the Light commanded her silence for "I am Narad, The Rise of the Sun and the Fall of the Moon, Wyrmslayer and your progenator. Listen to me well, blood of my blood. We have heard your prayers and seen your penance. But some gods are not convinced. Not until all kin are united will they accept you back into Paradiso. Unite them all. No matter the cost. No matter the resistance. Let the nations flags fall under one." and Narad disappeared. Within the very next day, Olmae held a public speech, letting all know that the time of Ascension was nigh and that paradise awaited all. But only were there to be unity of all Kin. From her balcony Olmae proclaimed "So we must go forth children! Let those who would fail to bend the knee taste the blade!" So it was that ambassadors and envoys, merchants and cobblers, all who could moved to spread the word. At first these brusque attempts to proselityze were brushed off as mere annoyances as nations spurned the galling requests from the Olmeric ambassadors. And so this dance continued to the point that Olmeric officials became a running joke amongst the general population. Until the **Cratering of the Caldera**.

With time running out and it's diplomatic channels exhausted, Olmae built up the nation's armed forces. All who could wield a blade would, all who could cast a spell were conscripted. And so it was that on a cold morning, Olmeric ships surrounded the Caldera and fired. The resultant cannon fire tore the peak from the volcanic structure and the Olmeric's holy army moved forward. Within the week, the Caldera was colonized and the Olmeric flag flew high. Now each nation no longer laughed at the Olmeric ambassadors. In response the Trench declared war as did the nation of the Flocksam. The Peak simply removed itself to the clouds and the Mountain made weapons for Flocksam. The Urzi Conglomerate, never content to let things like loyalty get in the way of profit, declared itself neutral and merely hoped distance would be enough to keep them safe. Flocksam and the Trench fortified defenses along Brondryn's Thumb. However the Empire swiftly overran them. The brutality of the loss made it known as the **Massacre at Mordin**. However it was from this stunning defeat that the seed of hope would be planted. An orc captain named **Unlak Tarek** would win a crucial victory against the Olmeric Empire during the seige of Flocksam. Unlak was able to unify the disparate forces and route the Empire's navy before they could send crucial reinforcements. It was with the victory and stalwart leadership that lead to the birth of the Legitan Alliance.

During the war the nation's respective navies were so interlocked that the sacking of ports by pirates became increasingly common leading the creation of groups like the Steel Reserve to take up the power vaccum. Various privateers also fought for hire on the side of either the Alliance or the Empire, either in a direct combat role or by running resources and weapons for them.

Ultimately despite the Empire's fanatical ferocity, they were unable to break the Alliance. An unusually foolish Olmeric general once remarked that they had certainly united Ekra, simply not in the way they meant to. He was swiftly executed. This stalemate was not without cost, the cost of the war was depleting the Empire of resources and without much conquest to show after the Caldera the citizens started to chafe at the length and cost of the war. Those in The Empire's southern region, far from the capitol and it's religious fervor, increasingly felt at a distance from the cause they were dying for. Soon discontentment turned to resentment and whispers to shouts. Small insurgencies began to pop up along the southern region, demanding themselves free from the Empire. Sensing blood in the water, the Alliance sent spies and arms to these rebel groups. Eventually the rebels pulled off a daring coup in their largest port town and formally declared independence as the new nation of **Nuovo**. Facing fronts on all sides Olmae was undeterred, however the Father Confessor and the generals, said that it was over and best to seek a ceasefire than to have any invader set foot on the Empire's soil. Olmae was distraught. Finding no allies in her inner circle and her Empire breaking apart, Olmae killed herself. The relatively young and inexperienced Olmae XV took the throne and on the word of her advisors The Olmeric Empire asked for a cease fire. The Alliance quickly accepted though it's unknown what the Trench's thoughts were as they had been subsumed by **The Fog** just before the end of the war. And so ended the War of Unification. There are those who say that Olmae's visitation was nothing more than a delusional fit. A maelstrom of madness that swept up all the nations of the world. There are those who deny they ever truly believed. But belief is irrelevant. The scars of the Unification War run long and deep, pockmarked along Ekra in it's biggest and bloodiest conflict since the God's fought the Primordials.