Varnese Wars

The Varnese Wars are a series of conflicts within Clante that started upon Great Emperor Vladislav's death without a male heir on 28 June 2023.

## Events

### Background

Great Emperor Vladislav I died without a male heir, and Clante ended up in complete anarchy with no central figure.

### Early Wars

Krsto Stojan, having owned territories near the Clantean capital city of Serres, made himself the Great Emperor of Clante, hoping to secure his rule. However, on the Eastern edges of Clante, Bogoljub, Teodor, and Stanislav rallied under Stanislav to oppose Krsto's leadership.

Stanislav and his allies rallied an army of 220,000 men. Krsto rallied 250,000. They opposed on the city of Caratorije, a city roughly forty kilometers East of Serres. The two armies engaged, and even though Stanislav's armies emerged victorious, his troops took heavy casualties, and Stanislav was dead in the battle. The subsequent power vacuum caused Teodor and Bogoljub to fight over Stanislav's succession.

Slavojub Stojan, once a loyal subject of Krsto, grew wary of Krsto's growing power, and organized his army to revolt against Krsto. At one battle, Krsto's army found themselves severely defeated. Slavojub, Živorad, Zlatan, Radul, and Ilija, seeing Krsto's army weakened, revolt against him.

The five candidates then stormed Serres, but they found Krsto dead by suicide, so they began clashing over who was the real Clantean Emperor.

Meanwhile, in Eastern Clante, Teodor emerged victorious over Bogoljub, who went into hiding and renounced all his claims to the Clantean throne. Bogoljub's lands were filled by Karl Stojan, who raised an army to push back Teodor's dominance over the Clantean East.

Karl aligned himself with Velizar, and they began to push Teodor's territories back.

In the West, Živorad defeated Zlatan, and he assigned his trusted ally, Goran, to administer the new territories. He also assigned Miloš to lead the armies of his realm.

Miloš proved to be a successful military commander, and he won stunning victories against Slavojub and Ilija. He also deposed Goran as the local governor of the region.

Back in the East, Karl won great victories against Teodor, knocking him out of the war and forcing him to renounce his claims to the Clantean Throne. Velizar, once the loyal ally of Karl, attempted to depose him, but his efforts were defeated quickly, and Velizar died in the battle. His family was later exterminated too.

Having deposed Goran, Miloš then revolted against Živorad himself, controlling most of his realm. Despite all of Miloš's disadvantages, the fighting was a stalemate. Seeking to capitalize on the opportunity, Karl launched his attacks on Živorad and Miloš, controlling all of Clante in a matter of weeks.

### Karl Era

Having united Clante, Karl wanted to ensure his descendants would rule for "ten thousand years" and wanted to reform the Clantean system, to the point where he alienated the princes completely.

### Late Wars

After 3 months of Karl's reign, many remaining local rulers, comprising of Miomir, Ratimir, Radul, Sretomir, Milomir, Uroš, Vlado, Mladen, and Zvezdan, revolted against Karl. The fighting was fierce and Serres was lost, but Karl was left with some lands in the Western reaches of Clante, but Karl himself being killed in battle. The remaining Stojans fought over the Clantean throne, disregarding Karl's lands.

Karl's remaining army, still being relatively large, was left without a lord to serve. Not wanting to abandon their military careers, they decided to elect Siegmund von Habsburg-Stojan, the son of the New Fernian Emperor, Matthias, as their ruler. Siegmund, eager to control territories, accepted, and he finished Karl's new reforms that bolstered the administration of territories and improved logistical talents, but improved them as to not anger his remaining subjects.

Back near Serres, with the growing chaos, both Vlado and Zvezdan were defeated by Uroš, who then faced Ratimir, who had defeated Radul and Miomir, and Sretomir, who had defeated Milomir and Mladen.

Uroš was the first to break, his lands being mostly occupied by Sretomir, who had the advantage on paper. However, Sretomir's army was exhausted, but still very numerous, so it was mostly a stalemate.

Siegmund, seeing the exhaustion of his rivals, embarked on a campaign to defeat his rivals. However, Siegmund's status as a Habsburg-Stojan caused some uninvolved Stojan princes to revolt, as a Clantean dynasty change meant the change of local rulers. The revolt ended in Siegmund assuring them that their lands would not be seized away from them. Therefore, Siegmund was able to continue his war effort and unite Clante. Thus, the Varnese Wars ended with Siegmund von Habsburg-Stojan being coronated Great Emperor Zigmunt von Habsburg-Stojan of Clante.