Arcadian-Lycian War

The Arcadian-Lycian War, also known as the War of Fire and Shadow and the Pointless War, is a 10-year open conflict between the kingdoms of Lycia and Arcadia that started in 1609 and ended in 1619, orchestrated by Shiruse and Zav'ida Zistal.

## Background

### Present Lycian and Arcadian Tensions

Tensions arose between Lycia and Arcadia long before the orchestrators even thought of pitting them against one another. Lycia had been rather wary of magic since the Spellplague. in the 1200s, the Lycian king Sebastien Michaelis outlawed magic and put any visible spellcaster to death. As a result, spellcasters in Lycia either fled the land or hid their own magics. Sebastien's successor repealed the official law, but the damage had been done. This period of time became known as the Lycian Warlock Hunts.

Many Lycian immigrants settled in Arcadia, which was a smaller settlement at the time. The influx of spellcasting citizens helped it grow into the flourishing kingdom bustling with magic that it is currently known for.

### The Orchestrators and Their Opposition

Shiruse, the daughter of the Great Purple Dragon Glimraug, was fascinated by the human conflicts and decided that she wanted to make one to entertain herself. She partnered with Zav'ida Zistal, a lich. Zav'ida pointed her in the direction of Lycia and Arcadia, since she bore a grudge against Lycia for Sebastien killing her back during the Lycian Warlock Hunts.

Midmoor divination student Regina Nightshade foresaw the conflict and spoke to Archmage Jayda Haro about it. Regina, along with palace artificer Vira Glittergem and Lycian businesspeople Bronwyn Ironkeg and Garth Elderfellow tried to put a stop to the war, but were unaware of how deep the corruption ran and were unable to stop the machinations that led to the official declaration of war.

### Orchestrated Conflicts

Shiruse crafted a persona for herself, a tiefling sorceress named Lirel Galazini. She posed as a graduate of Midmoor eager to enter mage politics and slowly climbed the ranks of the Arcadian Assembly. Zav'ida, meanwhile, took a more stealthy approach and utilized the Astral Plane to travel Lycia without being seen.

In Alturiak of 1607 PS, Shiruse influenced Archmage Vivian Marquette to slaughter the De Vita family, a beloved family of Lycian nobility. By Nightal of the same year, Marquette's crimes were uncovered by Axel de Vita and others. Marquette was turned over to Axel, with Shiruse hoping that he would execute her to incite anger in Arcadia, but Axel sent her back to Arcadia to be imprisoned.

In 1608 PS, Shiruse gets herself chosen as the High Chancellor of the Arcadian Assembly by King Escadus Sylvaranth. In the same year, Zav'ida orchestrates a kidnapping of the Lycian prince and princess, Laurence and Leanne Aranore. The two are rescued early by Pietro Saxonbury and Edda.

## War Timeline

The war was officially declared on Eleint 16th, 1609 PS. Escadus Sylvaranth is implied to be the first to be openly hostile, since Maeve Aranore mentions an "unsavory message" he sent to her and Duncan that morning. Lycia officially declared war on Arcadia that day.

Though there were occasional skirmishes in the northern mountains, most of the fighting took place south of the kingdoms. As a result, in the first few years of the war, many small villages in the south were caught in the crossfires. General of the Lycian Army Bill Ravenspear and Grand Archgeneral of Arcadia Daevyre Yontaea, neither of whom were under magical control, agreed to a brief armistice in which they decided that all subsequent battles would be fought on the unoccupied land south of the kingdoms, and any attack on innocent civilians of either kingdom would be considered a war crime with swift and harsh punishments. After this agreement was signed, Grand Archgeneral Yontaea was assassinated by an unknown Lycian agent.

In the middle of the war, an officer in the Hex Knights named Light Szereban made a pact with Zav'ida Zistal (whose name was unknown to him) to turn injured soldiers into chaos zombies and led a surprise attack on the hex Knights, targeting one of the medical bays. Most of his chaos zombies were single-handedly defeated by a soldier named Aerwin Florene. Because she had been previously resurrected as a hollow one, she was immune to Szereban's magic. Florene saved a cornered battlefield medic, Valencia Exner, at which point Szereban intervened and tried to make Florene's wild magic surge out of control, but only succeeded in transporting Exner away. Finally, Szereban blasted Florene with magic, but she survived due to being undead. Hex Knight officers arrived at the scene at this point, defeated the last of the chaos zombies, and defeated and captured Szereban, who used his magic to escape being court-martialed. He was branded as the Rogue Soldier, while Florene was honored for her bravery and honorably discharged from the army.

## Conclusion

In Eleint of 1619 PS, Regina Nightshade and her allies discovered suspicious activity from Lirel Galazini, which led to them uncovering that her and her minions, Poison Yew, Cleito Halphas, Arvindr Whistle, and Ikaris of Godbrand were making efforts to keep the war going. At the same time, Bronwyn Ironkeg and her allies uncovered the Lycian side of the conspiracy after hunting the vampire Dario Blackmore. Galazini also freed deposed Archmages Kyle Strickler and Vivian Marquette. All of this led to Lirel being arrested, at which point she revealed herself as the purple dragon Shiruse. It was also revealed she no longer had to mind control Escadus.

While Regina and her allies battled against Shiruse, Archmage Alexandra Lim and Merkizard commander Coryn Laeramar freed Duncan Aranore from Zav'ida's mind control and hid him away from Shiruse and Zav'ida. The Lycian and Arcadian armies united to fight an army of undead created by Zav'ida and Marquette. Once Shiruse, Zav'ida, and all of their allies had been defeated, killed, or imprisoned, Lycia and Arcadia finally ended the war.