Isengard-Arnor War

The Isengard-Arnor War was a conflict between the armies of Isengard, with the backing of the Shadow Pact, and the Dúnedain of the North, who were backed by the Coalition of Dawn and a plethora of other allies. The conflict began on October 2nd 2019, when Lord Saruman of Isengard formally declared war over claims of aggressive expansionism and disregard for local geopolitics on the Dúnedain's part. The war ended on the second of February 2020 as a white peace.

## War Declaration

The full declaration of war, as issued by Lord Saruman of Many Colours, is as follows.

First and foremost, the Rangers have repeatedly proven to be expansionist beyond reason and common decency. They have elbowed their way into Enedwaith despite having little to no real business in there, which has resulted in Isengard getting boxed into a corner and ultimately led to a one-sided war in an attempt to bully another small faction out of its tiles. They have threatened war repeatedly when they know that they have a strategic advantage, most notably with Isengard and Angmar. Their greed and disregard for established geopolitical boundaries has become even more evident in their denial of the division of the Lone-Lands that was established by the admins earlier this year.
Yet another example would be the Rangers’ recent attempt at claiming the Trollshaws waypoint. Not only does this tile belong to Angmar, but their build nearby was reset with the intention of being rebuilt; rather than contacting Angmar about it, the Rangers jumped at the chance of expanding into new biomes again, and their leaders allowed a player to submit a build for said waypoint without any consideration for other factions and their previous work and intentions. This isn’t the first aggressive attempt at claiming made by the Rangers either, as they attempted to expand their already extensive presence in the north after the tile map was released purely out of landgreed. In the past, they also built at least one build in Angmar territory with the sole intention of causing trouble or undermining Angmar’s claim.
In conclusion: Ranger expansionism, and their unpleasant attitude in general, has gone on for too long, and we won’t accept it any longer.
[…]
Regards, The Shadow Pact
Therefore, Isengard hereby declares war on the Rangers.

Other Shadow Pact members added their own grievances, which were listed as follows.

Also, Elendil attacked Mateo, which is just rude. >:(

## Belligerents

The following factions are involved in the war.

### In Support of Isengard

* The Shadow Pact
	+ Isengard
	+ Angmar
	+ The Clans of Gundabad
	+ The Morwaith of the Savannah
	+ Mordor
	+ The Astrasi Empire
		- Near Harad
		- Umbar
		- The Half-Trolls of Pertorogwaith

### In Support of the Dúnedain

* The Coalition of Dawn
	+ The Kingdom of Arnor
	+ The Kingdom of Rohan
	+ The Kingdom of Gondor
	+ The Kingdom of Dale
	+ Swan Knights of Dol Amroth
* The Dwarven Council
	+ Dwarves of Erebor
	+ Dwarves of the Red Mountains
	+ Dwarves of the Blue Mountains
	+ Dwarves of the Grey Mountains
	+ Dwarves of the Iron Hills
* The Dwarves of the Mountains of the Wind
* The Wood-Elves of Mirkwood
* The High-Elves of Lindon
* The Kingdom of Forochel
* The Wood-Men of Mirkwood
* Dunland

## History

### Prelude

The Realm of Isengard had long been at odds with the nearby Rangers, a feeling which was further increased following the Arnorian expansion in the area. Encouraged by the Shadow Pact, Lord Oreo365 declared war on the Kingdom of Arnor. Dol Guldur refused to join the war after being rejected in its bid to join the Shadow Pact, the isolationist Lothlorien and Dorwinion faction refused to get involved, and Khazad-Dum couldn't fight due to the Treaty of Moria, but every other faction that was good or evil soon declared war.

### Battle of Southern Enedwaith

The first battle of the war was arranged by the admins to take place on the 30th of November 2019. In order to account for the numerical advantage of the Good Factions, it was decided that the Good factions would be able to have 10 more players than their counterparts. Disaster struck Evil before the battle started with important warriors such as Joxu, Razgull, and AlwaysDrinkTea being unable to participate. The Evil forces assembled an army of 26 soldiers, which gave the good side 36.

Instead of staying back and holding the hill they started at, the Good forces charged out and quickly began launching volleys of arrows. The Evil factions responded back but due to their numbers they fired back fewer arrows. As the Free Peoples charged, one Evil player, Telperonwe betrayed his side and assassinated one of his allies, stoking the confusion within evils ranks. Those who remained fled and took Good's starting hill, but it was too late, and they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. By the time the battle ended, 25 Evil soldiers had fallen compared to only 4 good.

A video of the battle can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkcTI0L-v\_g&t=204s.

### End

On February 2nd 2020, the two sides agreed to a white peace after a state of cold war had existed for several months. The aftermath of the previous battle marked an end to more than a year of constant fighting that had lasted since late 2018 and was unapparelled in the servers history post late 2014-mid 2015. The years bloody conflicts included the Wind Dwarven-Mordor War, the Dalish-Northern Umbar War, the Siege of Dol Amroth, and the Arnorian-Dunlending War in addition to this war. The year saw the end of the Dark Alliance, White Council, and the Iron Pact while the Coalition of Dawn, Shadow Pact, Dwarven Council, Mallorn Council, and the Astrasi Empire would never truly recover. With the end of the fighting evil looked to lick its wounds and it would take months until the Alliance of the East, which would ultimately become the dominant evil power, would be in a place where they could challenge the dominance of the new Wind Dwarven order.