Hyrellion-Northwood War

**Hyrellion-Northwood War** was a short war between Hyrellion and the Northwood Union. Hyrellion launched an invasion of Northwood to capture the shipyards, and successfully occupied Northwood for a span of one month before withdrawing for unknown reasons. Later expeditions south revealed what was presumably Hyrellion's territory, entirely devoid of any sign of life, with a massive crack in the sky over it.

In the fall of year (???), Hyrellion launched an invasion of Northwood's mainland, striking from a set of forward operating bases on an island chain south of Breezeview City. The invasion forces made landfall in the early hours of the morning, and were met with immediate fire from beachhead fortifications, specifically a set of sea-facing gatling guns and artillery cannons. During the assault, a group of elite Hyrellion soldiers led by the empress of Hyrellion herself landed just north of the bulk of the fighting, coming into contact with Northwood's elite "Green Division" marine unit near the Capitol Building. Green Division, led by Commander In Chief Raine Illus, engaged the Hyrellion strike team in brutal urban warfare as the bulk of Northwood's military either fought on the docks at the harbor or retreated to Northwood's other two cities. Northwood's Navy began bombardment of the harbor as the sun rose, resulting in high casualties, but slowing the advance of the invaders. Meanwhile, Green Division had been pushed back to Fort Illus, a historic military fort on the beach, just out of range of the navy's fire. At this point, Commander Stellasol staged a diversion to slow the advance of the strike team, allowing Raine to seal the fort's blast doors and turn on it's emergency defense systems. Unfortunately, it was at this time that a storm struck, and the strike team was able to use tridents to fly to the roof of the fort and enter the bunker. At this point, it was apparent that Breezeview had fallen, and as Raine attempted to retreat with what remained of her forces, she was shot in an act of treason by Phoebe Rekavor, removing her left eye. Raine and the remains of Green Division and the Northwood Union military retreated to a stronghold north of Glaciara, turning it into a submarine military base and laboratory for producing refined fissile material. Most of the Union's navy retreated to allied states such as Anterra, or to the Glacier Falls outpost in the far south. Glacier Falls became an important asset, as it was essentially a forward operating base on the same continent as Hyrellion's imperial core, and it was defended tooth and nail by a fleet of two NUFN cruisers, each with long-range artillery cannons.

Following the Occupation of Breezeview, the Hyrellion Provisional Government began a series of sweeping changes, removing all traces of Northwood's culture from the city in what amounted to a cultural genocide. The Capitol building and Museum were turned into a regional governor's office, the original constitution was destroyed, and a massive tower was erected in the bay beside the city. Residual guerrilla fighting continued on the edges of Breezeview's neighboring towns. The war, combined with a particularly harsh winter, led to a wide-scale famine, and due to the occupation, food was unable to be delivered into the city via traditional shipping methods. Resistance movements sprang up in Breezeview, resulting in harsh crackdowns on civil liberties by the provisional government. As this was happening, Green Division began working on development of a terrible weapon to use on Hyrellion, a fission bomb capable of obliterating the Hyrellion Capital in one decisive blow. The bomb was never used, as soon after development started, Hyrellion disappeared, leaving behind land strangely devoid of any life, and a massive crack in the sky. It is believed that this was the first breach to Aersi, a parallel world "where forgotten things go". Breezeview was retaken in merely a day, with the leadership of Hyrellion gone.

While Breezeview was retaken quickly, the war left lasting damage to the Northwood Union, both in the form of physical scars upon the land, and in the form of psychological and cultural damage from Hyrellion's occupation and attempted cultural erasure of Northwood. While Northwood recovered, the war forced the Union's government to take a much more defensive stance, sealing it's borders and massively building up it's army. In the years to come, Northwood would never again let itself be invaded. When the Acolytes of Hostina committed a terror attack in neighboring Scholar's Rock, a year after the war, Northwood was quick to declare war, the sleeping giant awakening and turning it's eye to Hostina, ready to stop them from becoming yet another Hyrellion.