Shivan Civil War

The **Shivan Civil War** was a war between the Rian Empire and one of its rebellious territories, Shivan Alliance, which lasted from 276 AP until 280 AP.

## Geographical Information

### Location

The Sea of Glass and the Tropical Point

Result| * Shivan independence.
* Rian Empire surrenders the Sea of Glass and a portion of the Tropical Point.
* Rian Empire begins to retract racist policies.
* Rian Empire goes into serious debt.
* Command GIII09 is issued.

Combatants| * Rian Empire
* Ezzerite Collective (Supporter)
* Red Reserves

Personnel| * Gregory Nysorn III
* Grand Admiral Quiburn ♰
* Grand Admiral Plutarch
* Admiral Thesbin
* Colonel B. Marshall
* Commander Giamadi
* Commander Vorpus

Strength| * The Mk I. Thunderbolt
* The Mk II. Authority
* 70,000 troops
* ~300 mages
* ~750 mages and shamans

## Overview

The war was seen as a colossal failure for the empire, causing them to lose all of there southern territory and a large majority of their troops. At the end of the war, the Rian Empire and the Ezzerite Collective both recognized the Shivan Alliance as a nation.

## Pre-War and Independence

The Rian Empire conquered the Shivan Tribes in 230 AP as an extension of the Unification Wars. Due to the large technology gap between the empire and the warring tribes, the Sea of Glass and the Tropical Point were quickly absorbed. Although the shivan people were human, the primarily endalian population saw shivans as savages and second-class.

This sort of discrimination even reached the governmental level, when a Shivan banker was barred from joining the election for Rian treasurer due to his heritage. In secret, the shivan tribes joined together to form an alliance to better suit the interest of the shivan people. For many years this alliance attempted to seek civil rights peacefully until 276 AP where they decided that the only way they could free themselves from segregation was to rebel against the empire.

## The Course of the War

### Retaking the Tropical Point (276 AP)

Days after first declaring war, the new Shivan Alliance gathered together its own militia and drove out a small imperial battalion stationed in the Shivan capital. To win the battle, the Alliance and Red Reserves heavily relied on guerilla tactics and volunteer spellcasters. By the end of 276 AP, 800 shivan militia died and the empire only lost 300 city guards.

### Retreat into the Sea of Glass (277 AP)

Now that the tropical point was completely under the Alliance's control, the empire's slow military moved to form a border in the Sea of Glass, which was nicknamed "Plutarch's Wall". While stationed on the border, imperial soldiers quickly realized that their newly manufactured firearms were rendered completely useless in the sand. Soldiers relied almost entirely on their secondary shortswords, which put them at a huge example against the rebels. Reports about the firearm dilemma reached the crown, but the problem was only solved near the end of the war. Any troops that attempted to modify their weapons to make them function, were quickly reprimanded by their superiors.

#### Plutarch's Wall

Plutarch's Wall was proposed by Grand Admiral Plutarch, as a strong line of fortifications to stall and tire out the Shivan rebels. However, with the firearm dilemma rampant across the wall, and the rebel's aggressive push against the half-formed wall, it soon caved under Alliance pressure. In less than a month, the rebels had broken through the wall and flanked the Rian forces, which resulted in the capture of thousands of imperial troops.

### The Alliance's Gambit (278 AP - 279 AP)

With the huge morale boost from the fall of "Plutarch's Wall", the Shivan Alliance continued its push into the Sea of Glass, despite the alliance's stretched supply lines. Multiple problems factored into the Empire's failure. The first was their insistence on the widespread use of firearms among their soldiers. Despite multiple colonel's complaints, the admirals of the empire dismissed the blatant problems of firearms in the Sea of Glass.

The second was the Alliance's advanced guerilla and counterintelligence tactics. The primary form of communication throughout the empire was through ravens. The Alliance capitalized on this by using magic to intercept the ravens and reading its message before sending it out on its original course. This allowed the Alliance to quickly drawback exposed flanks and unguarded supply lines, effectively taking the empire's superior warcraft for themselves.

#### Battle of the Diamonds

The best example of the Alliance's counterintelligence was when they intercepted a Rian command to attack a Shivan supply line. The Alliance rerouted the supply line and replaced the line with its reinforcement line. As the empire ambushed the "supply line" they were counter-ambushed by Shivan guerillas. The empire's ambush realizes their situation and a few divisions were able to leave under the orders of Colonel B. Marshall. However, on the orders of Grand Admiral Quiburn, the Mk I Thunderbolt was brought in to fight back against the ambush.

The empire catastrophically failed in their ambush and lost almost 10,000 troops and the Mk I Thunderbolt. Morale and public support of the war, hit an all-time low, and protests began to build up in the empire. The battlefield is now called the "River of Diamonds" due to the large gemstone pillars used by shivan spellcasters during the battle.