The Bloody Decade

### Belligerents

The Tselchi Tsardom, The Dyrrvak Liberation Army, Byllic Volunteer Army, The Aldrian Foreign Legion

### Leaders

Tsar Kemelver IV, Archbishop Gąska Slizaad, Commander Herrigan Finch

### Result

Marginal Tselchi Victory, the Dyrrvak Liberation Army surrenders

## Background

The Bloody Decade, also known as the Dyrrvak Rebellion or the Tselchi Civil War was a conflict which started in April of 1945 and ended officially in June of 1955. The stage for this conflict is argued by some to have been set even as early as 1814 ATI, when the Tselchi emerged victorious in the Second Great War of the North, surprising the world by overcoming not only the crumbling Szliaad Dynasty, but also the Dwarven Confederacy. In the aftermath of this conflict the Tselchi took vast amounts of land for themselves, including the entirety of the old Szliaad lands, which were exclusively populated by Dragonborn (or Dyrrvak, as they call themselves). These formerly independent and proud people were slow to accept subjugation of any kind, and many resources had to be diverted from elsewhere in the Tsardom to keep the region under control.

Things would seem to stabilize by 1838 ATI, when a newly coronated Tsar Kemelver III would declare the region the County of Wsparcie, which granted the area some amounts of autonomy. However, even as the years progressed the Dyrrvak people could never find themselves fitting in with any other groups within the Tsardom, and as a result the desire for independence from their Human overlords was a constant presence. Tensions would sit and simmer as decades passed, and beginning in 1925 ATI things would begin to change within the Tsardom. Industrialization, a revolution which had begun spreading out from Aldria with the turn of the 1900s, was beginning to find it's way into the land of the Tsels. At this time, struggles were occurring between would-be entrepreneurs and the strict feudal structures which existed for centuries in the region, a structure which held back the Tsardom from reaching an industrialized state for decades longer than it needed to. At the same time, the Tsardom's neighbor to the south, The Byblian Republic, fully embraced all the benefits an industrial economy offered. With tensions brewing between the Byllic and Tselchi peoples, High Minister Sal Brezich of Byblia would reach out to the Dyrrvak people in Wsparcie, and offered to help them gain their independence with the supply of modern weapons and equipment. With this offer sent, it was only a matter of time until war would begin.

## The Fighting Begins

In January of 1944, a delegation of many high ranking community leaders within the County of Wsparcie would meet in the city of Bylstrach, with the intent of electing someone to lead their rebellion. Many potential candidates would arrive in the city and put forward their interest in taking up the role. However, amongst many former army officers of the Tselchi's Dyrrvak divisions, one stood out, one of the last remaining of the Szliaad bloodline, the former rulers of all Dragonborn. This man, Gaska Szliaad the Archbishop of Krowscaw, would become the leader of the newly formed Dyrrvak Liberation Army. However, even with a leader chosen, the Liberation Army had some problems immediately. Though they were receiving equipment from the Republic of Byla, it all had to be subtly smuggled under the guise of more benign goods which slowed down the process. Then at the same time there was the problem of manpower, tens of millions of Humans resided in Tselchi land while only approximately 8 million Dragonborn resided there, of which only 22,000 were trained soldiers. To remedy this Szliaad and his most devout followers would set up training camps deep within the taigas of Wsparcie, where volunteers to the Dyrrvak Liberation Army would go and receive basic training for 2 weeks at a time, this was hardly sufficient amounts of training, but the Liberation Army figured it to be far better than nothing.

By the time fighting was expected to begin, the Dragonborn forces had mustered a total of 35,000 soldiers who were ready to fight, yet at the same time only had enough modern equipment for ~11,000 of them, the rest were expected to get by either with knowledge of older methods of combat or with skills in the various magical arts. However, even with this lack of weapons, the plans were set into action, and on April 7th of 1945 ATI Dyrrvak forces in several districts of the County of Wsparcie would overrun peacekeeping forces and town garrisons before declaring themselves in open rebellion. The underequipped and undermanned garrisons would stand no chance against the unified assaults they faced, and within a week were all overrun leading to all of Wsparcie being under Liberation Army control.

## The Tselchi Response

News of the uprising would reach Tsar Kemelver IV only days after the assaults on local authorities began, however, the Tsar and his most prominent generals would believe the situation to be something more akin to a peasant uprising rather than an organized and well-armed resistance. Due to this, the Tsardom's first responses to the uprising were not of appropriate reaction to the scale of the problem. Only one actual professional army division was sent, the Tselchi 4th Infantry Division, and along with them would be sent several units of military police. This force would take with them very few magic users, armored cars, few machine guns, and only small artillery pieces. During the time it would take these soldiers to make it to Wsparcie, the Liberation Army would be receiving equipment from the Byblians at ever-increasing rates, and preparing fortifications for the inevitable arrival of the Tselchi army.

These events would lead directly into the Battle of Sami District, where the units of military police would enter the district in preparation to fight disorganized bands of the local peasantry but found themselves quickly under heavy gunfire. Fighting waged on for 3 days as the military police were re-enforced by the 4th Infantry Division, leading up to a desperate surge forwards by the attackers using their armored cars, making an entire fleet of them and making a charge for the district capital of Sami. This attempt was successful, and the Dyrrvak rebels holding the town were all but wiped out from the following fight. However, this group found themselves cut off and encircled as they'd vastly underestimated the number of the enemy. Fighting would wage on for another month as the 4th Infantry Division desperately struggled to break out of the encirclement but after a month of fighting and starvation were forced to surrender. In the battle over 3,000 Tselchi soldiers were killed at the cost of only 538 Dyrrvak.

## May 1945 - November 1946

With the disasters at the Battle of Sami District, it wasn't long before Tsar Kemelver IV and his leading generals would begin assembling an army to crush this unified Dyrrvak resistance. All professional soldiers within the Tsardom were called upon, including the famous Cossack and Hussar cavalry division. Assigned to make a front along the borders of Wsparcie and mount an offensive were the 1st and 5th infantry divisions, the 2nd Cossack Division, the 1st Hussar Division and all supported by attachments of wizards and sorcerers brought forward from the colleges of Perun and Civesk. Put in command of this army group was long-standing Tselchi general Gregorios Boyar, they'd arrive at their assigned fronts in late June.

### Military Disaster Ensues

During the month of time it would take for an offensive to be taken against them, the Dyrrvak did not sit idly and wait. With instruction on modern warfare from Byllic volunteer officers, the residents of Wsparcie began to work feverishly on more and more extensive defenses. Earthworks were set up all around the border regions, traditional fortifications were armed with large guns, bunkers and barbed wire were set up along likely regions of attack. On top of that all, head of the resistance Archbishop Szliaad continued working day in and out on recruiting more and more soldiers into his army, which now fielded infantry divisions alongside magical attachments and medical units.

In comparison to the Dyrrvak being taught by capable officers with combat experience, the Tselchi forces were being led by Gregorios Boyar, a career officer whose last experience in combat was over 25 years ago. Gregorios and his subordinate officers believed warfare could still be fought in traditional methods, with large columns of infantry and daring cavalry charges in plain sight of the enemy, with basic magical defenses being sufficient cover. However, a rude awakening would come for these old fashioned officers who began their three-pronged assault into Dyrrvak lands. The ensuing three battles would be clumped up to become the now-infamous Bloodbath at Wsparcie.

On all three sides of the assault, the Dyrrvak were initially shocked and thrown back by the tenacity of the Tselchi attack, however, as second and third lines of defense were reached the true nature of this battle would be shown. Cavalry charges were stomped out by artillery, columns of infantry were laid waste to by machine guns high in the hills and bunkers and any hopes of magical assistance were nullified by the shocking effectiveness of Dyrvvak wizards and shamans at shutting down their enemies magical capabilities. The fighting would rage on for a whole week and every time General Gregorios thought he found a weak spot in the enemy line and ordered his men through, it would only result in thousands more Tselchi casualties. At certain points, Tselchi infantrymen would shoot their own officers for trying to make them march into the direct line of a machine gun's fire. With morale sinking to a low and exhaustion setting in, the Dyrrvak led into a ferocious counterattack called by Archbishop Szliaad himself. As Dyrrvas soldiers rushed out and formed up, suddenly surging forwards and on all fronts slamming into the exhausted Tselchi forces they broke and were in full retreat within hours.

### The Dyrrvak Counterattack

When the Tselchi armies broke and began retreat, the Dyrrvak forces took the opportunity to drive forwards and gain as much from the moment of victory as they could. Liberation Army commander Ek Lyvvanoth proposed a plan for a counter-offensive which would take much of the Dragonborn inhabited land within the neighboring counties of Belyyvos and Fahklos, and despite some resistance to the plan initially, it would eventually be set into motion on June 28th, 1945. The Dyrrvak armies would separate into two groups, the first led by Archbishop Szliaad and the second by Commander Lyvvanoth, who would march forwards and begin the battles of Belyyvos and Fahklos respectively.

Though these battles would turn out to be successful for the Liberation Army, the fighting was not as quick or easy as Lyvvanoth had thought it would be when proposing her plans to the Army Council. For months the fighting would rage on in these counties, and though their encounters with the armies of General Gregorios would be massive victories the local garrison forces would prove to be much more competent. Seiges would be forced to drag on and cost large casualties for the Liberation Army. These two battles would be won on November 3rd and 16th respectively, with most of the major objectives for the offensive being taken. However, this victory would come at the loss of over 35,000 Dyrrvak lives. During the entirety of the year, the Tselchi would take 102,000 casualties and the Dyrrvak 55,000.

## December 1946 - October 1948

The beginning of 1947 would be marked by continued escalation of the conflict in scale, as the Tselchi forces continued to mobilize more citizens and form larger and larger divisions to fight off the rebellion with. Meanwhile, in addition to the equipment they've been supplying to the Dyrrvak forces, Byblian volunteers would make their way into Tselchi lands in the thousands under the general Herrigan Finch. These volunteers, though unofficially sent under orders from the Byblian government, were officially soldiers who wished to stand in solidarity with another people seeking their liberty from an authoritarian regime. International protest would occur and despite the constant accusations thrown at the Byblian government of intervening in a conflict without an official declaration of war, no large power took action against them for this.

### The Great Stalemate

After the successful counter-offensives of 1946, the Dyrrvak Liberation Army was now in the possession of 80% of land inhabited by the Dragonborn people. However, the challenges before them grew as more and more Tselchi soldiers were put under the command of General Gregorios Boyar, including 3 divisions of the famous cossack warriors. An attempted attack by a combined force of Byblians and Dyrrvak at the taigas near the Gyr river would prove disastrous, as after initial victories the cossack rearguard would slam into the primary force and thrust them back across the river. This battle, now known as the Battle of Galto, was the fist major Tselchi victory of the war and ended with over 10,000 casualties for the Liberation Army.

With this defeat, the Liberation Army swiftly ceased all preparations for offensive operations and Archbishop Szliaad ordered new defenses to be constructed all across the newly conquered territory. Seeking to stop this happening, General Boyar ordered a massive push along a front dozens of miles long to begin. Many of Boyar's subordinates objected to this order, on the grounds that they'd be pushing without cover and uphill against a well-armed and prepared enemy, yet these objections were ignored and a week later the fighting was ordered to begin. The Second Battle of Fahklos would officially start on April 28th, 1947, with massive bombardment by Tselchi artillery onto the fortified positions on the hills above them. General Gregorios had hoped that concentrated artillery fire would cause enough damage to Dyrrvak morale and numbers that a mass wave assault could be successful. He was, in some ways, both correct and incorrect. In several locations, the bombardment paved the way for Tselchi forces to storm and take the positions on higher ground with acceptable losses. However, given the vastness of the front he was firing upon, on just as many locations, not enough shells fell and Tselchi forces found themselves cut down by gunfire and magical bombardment. Fighting on the hill tops would continue for days before all Tselchi forces were forced back off them, and General Boyar attempted the same plan once again only for the exact same results to occur.

With the failure on both sides of large offensives, only occasional battles would occur for the rest of 1947. Other attemps in the year by Gregorios Boyar such as attacks on the fortified positions on the Gyr and on the marshy lowlands of Bellyvos would prove equally as disastrous. Nearing the end of 1948 casualties on both sides would stack up to 97,000 for the Liberation Army and 252,000 for the Tselchi armies.

## November 1948 - January 1951

November 1948 stands out as yet another time when foreign intervention would make the war bigger, as the entirety of the Aldrian Foreign Legion, a force of 40,000 Aldrians, was sent over to perform operations along with the Tselchi Tsardom. However, while this was certainly direly needed help from their allies some trouble came to be immediately, as commander of the foreign legion Phillip Paliton refused to take orders from the head of the army and general Gregorios Boyar, citing him to be "ignorant at best, and outright stupid at worst."

However, even with the conflict the arrival of more foreign troops brought, Tsar Kemelver IV was happy to assign a different chain of command to the Aldrians so long as it meant he had more men fighting in what had become a desperate struggle on both sides.

### The 1950 Offensives

Stalemate broke in March of 1950, when Archbishop Szliaad would put into motion an all-out offensive against the last remaining regions of the Tsardom which held large Dyrrvak population centers. All this was planned to lead up to an assault on the major city of Civesck, a city with over 2 million residents. Based on previous experience with the performance of the Tselchi army, both Dyrrvak and Byblian commanders thought that the armies which opposed them would once more be easily broken, despite having inferior manpower and firepower.

The offensive began with the expected successes, with half of the territory laid out for the offensive being taken already by April 16th, and a decisive victory over Boyar's forces at the Battle of Bulack Pass paved the way for a march towards the city of Civesck. With the city threatened, Tsar Kemelver himself panicked and began to order as many standing units as possible away from other fronts and concentrated them around the city. This action made many in the Liberation Army's high command question what to do, with a noticeable lack of forces opposing them on other sides, some officers would suggest that attacks should be made there while the opportunity presents itself. However, both Szliaad and Byblian General Herrigan Finch believed that taking Civesck would be the decisive blow needed to make the Tselchi come to the table and negotiate for peace.

### Battle of Civesck

Beginning around the 1st of May assaults only 20 miles away from the outskirts of the city would begin, prompting local authorities to begin evacuating as many civilians from the area as possible. These initial skirmishes would mark the beginning of the "Battle of Civesck", by far the bloodiest battle of the entire war.

The first large scale clash between Liberation Army and Tselchi forces would take place in the suburban town of Lyrvask, where the initial back and forth magical bombardment between the two forces would leave large parts of the town's infrastructure heavily damage, which would impede the fighting. However, despite all the obstacles and heavy resistance, the Tselchi army would put up, a division of Byblian forces would break through and cause a gap for the rest to pass through. For two days after that, the Liberation Army would make slow but steady gains and it seemed likely that the first forces would reach the city proper in a matter of hours. However, in a miraculous turn of the tables and show of bravery a division of Cavalry known as the Gilded Hussars would engage the enemy en masse, backed up by the 19th Tselchi infantry division and several bands of traditional warriors. The fighting would suddenly turn heavy once more as the Liberation Army struggled to move these divisions off of their higher ground and would suddenly be broken when the Gilded Hussars, led by an upstart commander known as Edgar Slaviskov, would charge and slam into the left flank of the Liberation Army front lines, cutting down hundreds of men and causing their ranks to break which would lead to a charge along the entire front. This daring maneuver would cost the lives of 1,500 of the Hussars yet it threw back the Liberation Army several miles.

After this defeat the Liberation Army would shift around their strategy, beginning heavy and concentrated artillery bombardment on only the higher ground positions which they failed to take, which would take place over a week and a half. This time when the Liberation Army marched in, they would find the uphill positions and fortifications in ruins, and in a matter of hours would take those positions. Only two days later the outskirts of Civesck would be taken, however, General Gregorios Boyar refused to retreat in any capacity and ordered a desperate defense on every street of the city. Over the next month, intense urban fighting would take place, as Ttens of thousands of men on either side would take positions and refuse to budge even an inch. However, time would favor the defenders in this scenario and yet another heroic flanking maneuver by Slaviskov and the Gilded Hussars would leave the Liberation Army forced to retreat. The battle would be won, but at a heavy cost, with casualties on both sides reaching over 50,000.

## January 1952 - January 1954

With the failures of 1951, the Liberation Army retreated from their less holdable possessions in majority Human regions and retreated back to previously fortified frontlines, hoping that once again a defensive stance would cause the pendulum to swing in the side of the Liberation Army. However, Tsar Kemelver IV was determined to not see the same mistakes made once again and began to completely restructure the army. Gregorios Boyar was removed from his post as head of the army for incompetence, and new generals such as the previous cavalry commander Edgar Slaviskov would be given more control. These changes would enable the Tselchi to better use their advantages in firepower in order to make offensives which would effectively smash through fortified positions.

### The Winter Battles of 1952

The first of the Tselchi counteroffensives came on February 15th, 1952, forcing soldiers to march and fight through the dense taigas of the Tselchi countryside, and in these battles little would be accomplished due to the rough condition of the land itself. However, as winter raged on Slaviskov's 2nd Army would make a breakthrough of the Dyrrvak first lines of defense on March 1st, which would eventually escalate into the Assault on Tul. During this battle the Liberation Army would break on all sides, forcing a general retreat on a front 40 miles long to a second defensive line. However, an attempted follow up on these successes by Slaviskok would prove disastrous, as Dyrrvak shamans would call upon a blizzard that would break the attack and end up killing thousands due to freezing to death.

Winter would inevitably begin to turn to spring, and snow and ice melted creating bogs of mud and water which made transport of large guns difficult. Some Tselchi leaders though, would not be discouraged by this, with 1st Army Commander Sylie Zog ordering a large scale assault through the marshes on March 29th. This would have likely proven disastrous if not for the experienced fighting force that was the Aldrian Foreign Legion attacking alongside Zog's forces. The Tselchi army, who took the center positions in the battle, would take massive casualties as they assaulted through bogs towards fortified positions. The Aldirans, though, would take up the flanks and with support from elite units of traditional warriors and rangers who had no problem fighting through the mud would see massive successes. By the end of April, the Dyrrvak were in full retreat on all sides.

### The Desperate Defense

On all sides of the Dyrrvak Liberation Army, new armies under new generals closed in and won massive victories over them, causing both Archbishop Szliaad and Byblian General Herrigan Finch to completely reconsider their situation. Seeing the very real possibility of defeat, Dyrrvak civilians of all ages began to volunteer in numbers larger than ever seen before and General Finch ordered his men to dig in all across the southern edges of the frontlines in preparation to face the armies of Edgar Slaviskov. A temporary pause in the action allowed new plans to be hatched and armies to be reorganized, giving a newfound vigor to the Dyrrvak fighters who were previously exhausted from non-stop fighting.

Beginning in July all 3 of the Tselchi armies led by Zog, Bultov, and Slaviskov would begin offensives in hopes of breaking through to the heartland of Wsparcie itself and force the Liberation Army to surrender. However, on all sides they would see repeats of Boyar's military disasters, as larger amounts of defenders on better positions in good weather proved impossible for any of the 3 commanders to breakthrough. Losses were dealt out on all sides, and the Tselchi took tens of thousands of casualties in comparison to only a few thousand for the Liberation Army. This new stalemate would last until well into 1954 when General Edgar Slaviskov led his men personally on a daring operation, in which infantry attacked and pinned down high ground positions following a heavy bombardment by both magical and physical explosions and the hussars and cossacks under him would charge through the gaps and encircle the enemy. Though some difficulties were had in the first hours, within 5 days the Byblian volunteers would find themselves completely trapped, starting intense fighting in a pocket which would last for 3 months before Herrigan Finch would personally surrender to Slaviskov.

## 1955 and the End of the War

Finch Surrendering caused a massive line to now exist in the Liberation Army's rear, which Slaviskov and his men swiftly began to abuse and rush through while the other two armies kept existing units pinned down and limited in their ability to re-enforce the gap. For a time it looked as though Slaviskov would walk right into the Wsparcie capital of Sami unopposed. However, a large group of shamans and wizards had been working together on a large project for some time now, and as Slaviskov entered into the lowlands of Wsparcie County, the Dyrrvak summoned forth three dragons from another realm and set it loose in the region where Slaviskov's main forces resided.

After intense fighting against Dyrrvak infantry and irregulars on the 18th of November when massive red dragons would set themselves upon them, bringing with it massive tremors from the ground and eruptions of magma all across the landscape. With flames raining down upon them from the skies and flames assaulting them from below, most of Slaviskov's regular troops broke in a matter of hours, leaving only his elite soldiers to fight. The ensuing battle would be brutal, with elite warriors, spellcasters and cavalry setting themselves upon the living natural disasters. After days of struggling they'd all eventually be brought down, with Slaviskov himself leading his Gilded Hussar division in surrounding and killing one of the dragons.

Though massive damage was done to the 2nd Army, it was hardly enough to win the war, and month after month the Dyrrvak would be pushed further and further back in the 2nd Battle of Wsparcie. This trend would continue until the Tselchi reached the city of Sami itself, surrounding it and putting it under siege. For another month the city would hold out, until Archbishop Szliaad himself would order the surrender, effectively ending the war.

## Aftermath and Results

Archbishop Szliaad and dozens of his highest-ranking officials would be tried in the imperial court of Tsar Kemelver IV, and each one of them was found guilty of treason and sentenced to be executed. The war cemented Kemelver's reign as a military strongman and ensured no more large attempts at rebellion would be tried under his watch. Byblian and Tselchi relations slowly mended as a return of all the volunteers taken prisoner, including Herrigan Finch, was negotiated and went off without any difficulties.

The Tselchi army learned many lessons from it's failures in the war, and modern and more realistic tactics were immediately adopted. New generals such as Zog gained fame amongst the nobility, and Slaviskov soon found himself promoted to army chief of staff, as well as elevated to the status of a hero to the Tselchi public.

The Dragonborn people after this would only face more brutal repression in response, and any signs of dissidents has since been swiftly and brutally shut down upon as programs have been enacted in an attempt to fully integrate them into the Tsardom once more.