Great War - The Betrayal and Desperation

The unexpected withdraw of the Ashed at the order of the 14th swings re-balances the war a second time. Instead of causing the expected stalemate, it launches many of the nations into desperate acts which ultimately spiral the body-count of the war upward.

## The Ashed

Following the break of the Tallet's siege on the Ashed Confederacy and the pushing back of Goran forces, arrangements for a ceasefire were negotiated between the 14th Councilmember and the other two rulers. While not considered a super-power on their own, the Ashed had endured the warfare far better than most nations due to the small size of their involvement in the fighting. Therefore, they had become a force to be considered as numbers dwindled elsewhere. Both rulers realizing this was a way to put their own armies into a position to hold out until their populations recovered and a new generation of soldiers came of age agreed to the ceasefire with the Ashed. Gor and the Faceless Emperor view this withdraw and arrangement in such an amicable manner that even hundreds of years later the 14th is well regarded. The eastern block nations responded somewhat differently.

The Broken Kingdom accepted this decision without fault or accusation, the Truest King and his people eager for the fighting to go cold so they could begin to rebuild their homeland. The Circle reacted a little more strongly, but bolstered by the Broken Kingdom in their defense against the Goran had truly lost much aside from having their plans to eliminate their enemies dashed. The Phoenix and Kushan reacted the poorest, the 14th becoming a loathed individual and the event reinforcing the isolationist policies of the land further.

## The Tallet

The Faceless Emperor was faced with rebellions in more than half of his territory following the nearly successful siege of the Broken Kingdom. Capitalizing on his stroke of good fortune via the Ashed withdraw, the Emperor constricted his forces, cut his losses and set about stabilizing his Empire. The offensive actions had ended for the Tallet Empire at this time as all remaining armies were redeployed to maintain control of the Empire's heartland and what more recent acquisitions they could hope to reasonably hold.

## The Circle

Following the Ashed's withdraw, the Circle found itself in a stalemate with the Goran in their lands. The Broken Kingdom aided their defense, but without the Ashed infantry formations, the Riders had to fight unmounted to protect the Circle's range-based armies. The lines held under this arrangement, but began to crumble when the Kushanese withdrew as well, their orders coming from an enraged Phoenix who swore that never again would her people bleed for outsiders. The Circle and Kingdom were forced to fall back to the cities of the Inner Circle where their walls and static defenses made the difference against the Goran. The Truest King issued orders for reinforcements to be sent from the Kingdom, but the insurance of help arriving in a few months was insufficient for the cornered Technocracy.

In an infamous move, the Technocracy began to deploy their new weapon, Dust. Aiming to produce the greatest possible number of Goran casualties and end the war quickly, the Circle baited the Gorans into a massed attack against their eastern-most city. The move was well calculated for when the Gorans massed the gates of the city opened and the Circle's battle-wagons charged forth, the wagon-borne artillery launching canisters of Krak Powder and Dust into the Goran ranks. When the charges exploded the Dust filled the air among the Goran ranks, the lucky who breathed it in dying quickly in agony as their lungs corroded. The less-fortunate took the Dust to their skin where it was absorbed, resulting in a slow, agonizing death as their blood turned acidic and burned their bodies from the inside. Unable to muster any sort of defense against this new weapon, the Godspeakers made a singular decision in Goran history. They sounded a retreat, knowing that the deaths of the Goran warriors would achieve nothing and could be ill afforded.

## The Broken Kingdom

The Truest King was outraged by what he saw was a profound breach of the Barren Soil Treaty, and when the Dust was launched over his objections he could do little other than watch in horror as the Goran forces writhed and died without the ability to fight or run once a canister blew. When the carnage settled, the Broken Kingdom's forces withdrew from the Circle's lands, leaving the Technocracy to whatever fate might await them. The use of the Dust permanently soured relations between the two nations, and it was only through skilled negotiation and a timely famine in the Broken Kingdom that the Circle was able to procure the Kingdom's aid later in building the Great Wall. When the Truest King and the Myriad Legion returned home, the Kingdom entered an extensive period of rebuilding and restructuring. The Truest King seemed to be changed by what had experienced in the Great War, becoming far more actively engaged among his people. No further offensive actions were taken by the Kingdom during the War.

## The Goran

Following the use of the Dust, the Goran Nation declared the Circle to have been fully chastised for their attack on the Family Hearth. With the hostilities against the Ashed likewise terminated, Gor maneuvered his remaining offensive armies to finally finish what he had started in the south nearly a hundred years prior. The Goran horde formed outside of the Great Wall of Kushan with their now refined and functional siege machines. The impending attack never occurred however as a massive gift of food and request to become a Vassal nation arrived from the Kushanese Empress. The Goran naturally accepted, breaking the siege as quick as it had formed.

The Goran army then took the food they had been supplied, and with a sample sent back to Gor. The army itself then moved west and north past the Kushan walls and made for the Tallet homeland. Their mission was to bring the fight to the Tallet who had made the blunder of trying to take some of the lands of Gor by force early in the War. This army would arrive in the Tallet lands, but in a shambles of Corpsebloom's hold.

## Kushan

Following the Betrayal, the Phoenix withdrew the Kushanese levies which had reinforced foreign armies back to the homeland. This was intended to be the end of Kushan's involvement in the war, but following the use of the Dust by the Circle and redirection of Goran aggression to Kushan they had to prepare to fight once again. Weary of war and concerned that the Goran would break through the thin shell of the Kushanese Royal Army and Wall, the Empress opted to appease the Goran. A new emissary was sent to the Goran army outside of the Wall. Accompanied by a train of wagons filled to the brim with food, the emissary spoke only to ask to become Vassal to the Goran Nation. The Gorans accepted the gift and the arrangement, ending the hostilities temporarily.

Unknown to the Goran, the gift of food they received had been tainted by CorpseBloom spores. The Imperial Family of Kushan and the Phoenix have ever since maintained that they had no idea of the contamination. The general assertion is that a rogue faction was unconvinced the Goran would stop at Kushan becoming a Vassal and thus had contaminated the food to ensure the Goran would be too busy to bother Kushan again. The Phoenix and occasional ruling family member further this by saying it was a scheme arranged by the 14th as a part of a conspiracy to keep the Kushan people under constant threat by the Goran Nation.

Regardless of the truth of how the contamination came into the food, the effect was singulary the greatest and most widespread travesty to strike Soi as the next century and a half was spent stomping out the long-term effects of the Corpsebloom. The Broken Kingdom and the Gorans have never forgiven Kushan for the action, ensuring that relations remain cold and strained with the Kingdom and outright hostile with the Goran.