Great War - Overview and Outcomes

## Overview

Typically referred to as the Great War though sometimes called the Immortal War, The Great Immortal War or simply The War the conflict between the great nations which started in the year 1800 and lasted a century devastated Soi so thoroughly that the repercussions are still felt three hundred years after the fighting stopped. In the year 2200, the population of Soi is still roughly half of what it was at its peak in the year 1800. Large tracks of wilderness now speck the land where nations and civilizations once stood. The Great Immortal Nations of the world, once generally peaceful and solidly aligned are now strained in their relations to each other with old friendships fading as new ones are formed. The Great Immortal Nations as a whole while still sizable and strong stand to no longer be the dominant force on Soi as independent nations rise and form coalitions. The balance of power has swung slightly to the mortals of the realm as man Immortals have stepped back from the reigns of power and the unclaimed populations surge in size.

## Outcomes

*"This will be remembered as the war that everyone lost." - Unknown*

Most Great Nations suffered tremendous losses during the Great War, and though some new and grand works such as the Great Wall came out of the ashes of the conflict none of the nations can consider to have won.

### The Ashed

The Ashed Confederacy lost fully a third of their cities during the war. Formerly a nation of twenty-one city-states they now number only fourteen when one includes the rogue city-state of Northguard. Two western cities were lost beyond reclamation to the Goran incursions during the war. These cities now exist in dangerous young-growth forests which were planted by the Gorans as they withdrew, bringing the Raewoods to the Ashed lands. Two eastern cities were lost in the west, destroyed during sieges against the Tallet. The ruined remains are now often used as quarries by unclaimed towns or hideouts for groups of bandits. The three southern cities which were lost now stand as Necropolis, cities overrun with the Corpsebloom and the infected.

### The Broken Kingdom

The Broken Kingdom suffered the heaviest casualties of all the nations in the war. Two out of three in the Kingdom died, most of the deaths in battle. Many of the Kingdoms fortresses and castles were partially destroyed and had to be rebuilt. Perhaps the most dramatic shift noticeable in the post-war Kingdom is the high level of activity now seen out of the Truest King and a general rise in tension in their foreign affairs. Further the Order of Truths has been expanded into the Trinity Order, which now helps keep the Kingdom and its nobility at a higher state of readiness. The once open borders and coastlines are now likewise guarded by a series of small watchtowers equipped with signal mirrors and fires. The Armored Riders now perpetually patrol between these watchtowers and the Border Keeps of the Kingdom.

### The Circle

The Circle was stuck heavily by the Goran invasions and their battles with the Tallet throughout the war. Many of the Circle's losses were not military in nature, but rather civilians who were massacred under Goran assaults early in what they now call the Goran Genocide campaigns. Despite this the Circle's populations have rebounded rather strongly, with a number of formerly independent nations joining the Circle due to the leadership the Technocracy displayed in organizing regional defenses against first Tallet and then Goran aggression. The eastern border of the Circle's lands is now held by the Great Wall rather than a few hill forts. Perhaps the greatest loss the Circle suffered was that of their reputation as a goodly people. Their inadvertent assassination of the Family Hearth Wise Masters and use of the chemical weapon called Dust having done much to sour their reputation in the world and their relationship with other nations. As though the loss of arable land to the use of their own weapons was not enough, the Circle is now plagued by small infestations of Goran bees as well making any venture into a thicket a thorough adventure in some seasons.

### The Goran Nation

The Goran Nation did not suffer the sheer amount of devastation at home that most other nations did. Aside from a few small sectors now seemingly permanently infected by the Corpsebloom, their homelands remained untouched. What the Goran did lose was the offensive branch of their military, so profound was the loss that it has taken the Goran multiple generations to restore their numbers. In addition the nation has contracted, many of the lands that were previously being prepared for expansion now laying barren and wild again. The Goran ape populations were perhaps the greatest loss of resources to the nation though as the Corpsebloom spread quickly through their numbers requiring a large number to be euthanized.

### The Family Hearth

The Family Hearthran themselves into near bankruptcy helping fund the Tallet war efforts. The loss was so profound that many of the less traveled roads became "lost" as less profitable trade routs had to be cut. The greatest loss however was in the Family Hearth's Great Library of Contracts. The entire history of their people, including the legal basis of their law system is now ash. Under the guidance of the Blood Merchant and a new selection process for Wise Masters to ensure they are truly wise, the Family Hearth has been one of the fastest nations to recover. This recovery was spearheaded by their free distribution of the Purgeroot cure to the Corpsebloom via negotiation with Kushan for a steady supply of the Cure. The calming of the epidemic combined with the large amounts of good will the distribution of the Purgeroot brought has helped the Family Hearth spring back from the brink of ruin and beyond their former levels of prosperity.

The Kushani

The Kushan nation took significant losses among the peasant levies they sent out into the world during the Great War, but unlike most nations these losses reflected a small portion of their total population. As a result the Kushan today are one of the most populous people in the world. The true toll of the Great War has yet to fully play out, as the reputation of Kushan was utterly devestated by their role in the Corpsebloom epidemic. Further complicating matters, Kushan is now viewed as a rogue vassal by the Goran Nation who has turned on their Goran masters and claimed Gor's land as their own. It is not a matter of if the Goran Nation attacks Kushan, it is a matter of when the attack comes and if Kushan will be able to hold. The question of Kushan holding becoming ever more questionable as the Goran grow in strength and the isolationist Kushan fails to make effort to repair their foreign relations.

### The Tallet Empire

The Tallet Empire collapsed in on itself by the end of the Great War, the plagued army of Goran in their lands and their previously sustained losses preventing them from holding much of their lands together. The Tallet Empire now stands only slightly bigger than it did prior to their Illustrious Expansion. Not all is so horrid for the Tallet however, as after generations of recovery their Empire is not entirely naturalized and the "heartland" now easily twice the size it once was. Unfortunately the Tallet Emperor's actions during the War has earned him the permanent emnity of the Broken Kingdom and the Circle, both nations now going out of their way to interfere with the Tallet operations that approach the Eastern Block. This leaves the Tallet with very little room to grow with the Ashed to their west and some of the most powerful independent nations to their south. The Tallet also no longer enjoy the level of patronage they once did from the Family Hearth, the Wise Masters now realizing the folly of the Tallet Empire being so large that they become dependent on it. In addition the Tallet navy is now taxed for passage under the new Path of Wheels bridge that was erected across the narrow straight which connects Emperor's Bay to the oceans of the world.

### The Woag

Aside from relatively minor losses suffered during their assault on the northern Broken Kingdom, the Woag stand as the one Great Nation to have actually benefited from the War. With the breaking of the Tallet's power, the ships of the Woag can now operate further and more freely than ever before giving them the upper hand as the Tallet try to push back out. In addition the Woag people have earned the good will of the Truest King and Council of Royals, who recognize that the Eternal Warrior may have sundered the Kingdom completely had he not issued his cease-fire to the Kingdom. While open trade is punctuated by the Contest of Blood with the Broken Kingdom, it suffices to say the Woag have found a nation on the mainland that they now share a relationship of mutual respect with. In addition to this, the Woag population has proportionately bloomed despite rather slow growth now representing a proportion of Soi's humanity equal to that of the Ashed and Broken Kingdom.