Great Game

Combatants| * Empire of Sallant
	+ 1st Hegemony
	+ 3rd Hegemony
	+ 4th Hegemony
	+ 6th Hegemony
	+ 2nd Hegemony
	+ 4th Hegemony

Commanders| * Nisuh I
* Muzai I
* Nisuh II
* Setal I
* Hanua I
* Raib I
* Duhlah I
* Ziras I
* Tahuq I
* Muzai II
* Uysai I
* Ayga III
* Ayga IV
* Zemica I

The **Great Game** was a series of proxy conflicts between the Empire of Sallant and the Empire of Da'al Mon lasting from 1069 AW until its end in 1214 AW. The Great Game was fought by controlling the Desert Lords, a group of Sapphire Warlords with their power base in the inhospitable Great Sand Sea. With the Desert Lords situated between both empires, both countries could be targeted by coalitions of warlords known as hegemonies, which were usually under the control of either side of the Great Game.

## Course of the Great Game

### First Hegemony

The Great Game began in 1069 AW with the rise of the Sallanthian-controlled First Hegemony. At Emperor Muzai I's orders, they launched a destructive three-year-long attack against Da'al Mon known as the First Desert Lord Invasion in 1072 AW. By 1075 AW, the First Hegemony had been driven back and crushed by Da'al Moni Empress Ayga II, who moved to annex the territory. However, supply lines supporting the garrisons were constantly harassed or outright destroyed by warlords, bandits, and nomadic tribes. Before the year was over, the Da'al Monis withdrew, leaving the Desert Lords to brutal infighting.

### Second Hegemony

Ayga II's daughter, Kayil I, was the First Da'al Moni empress to start playing the Great Game properly. Under her guidance, the Second Hegemony was founded in 1080 AW. Similarly to Muzai's orders, the Second Hegemony the Second Invasion into Sallanthian-held Agumia in 1092 AW before being crushed by Agumian Arokar cavalry and Sallanthian Dragonfleets. Nisuh II made the same fatal mistake as Ayga II had when he failed to occupy the Great Sand Sea. Instead of total withdrawal, he appointed some officers to act as loyal warlords instead, marking the rise of the Third Hegemony.

### Third Hegemony

The Third Hegemony was founded in 1095 AW. While certainly loyal to Sallant at the start, Nisuh II approached the situation incorrectly. His hope had been to turn the Desert Lords into a military vassal state of his empire, not accounting for the widespread disloyalty amongst their ranks. Notably, some remnants of the Second Hegemony remained, and continued Da'al Moni bribes began turning fence-sitters and poisoning the roots upon which the Third Hegemony was built. By 1122 AW, the Third Hegemony collapsed as things began shifting in Da'al Mon's favour. However, all their slow progress over decades was undone in one act by Empress Ayga III.

### Fourth Hegemony

In 1125 AW, after building a series of border fortifications, Ayga III announced her withdrawal from the Great Game. Any warlords who had sworn loyalty to Da'al Mon either turned on the Empire or were deposed by others who would, marking the rise of the Fourth Hegemony under Sallanthian control. Led by the deposed Empress Uysai I, who had been under the control of the Desert Lords instead of it being the other way around, the resulting Third Invasion was personal and extremely destructive. Lasting from 1125 until 1128 AW, the Third Invasion resulted in the deaths of both Uysai and Ayga in a final duel between the sisters. Extremely bloody, those warlords who remained returned with many spoils. Ayga III's successor, Ayga IV, resumed payments to the Desert Lords, marking a shift in rhetoric amongst the Fourth Hegemony. In fact, it is the only hegemony to switch allegiances, as Hanua I and Raib I's bribes paled in comparison to the wealth Ayga IV was feeding into the Great Sand Sea. By 1133 AW, the Fourth Hegemony had become utterly loyal to Da'al Mon and launched the Fourth Invasion. Matching the brutality of the Third Invasion, the Fourth Invasion was too costly to sustain the hegemony, as most of its warlords were killed. By 1135 AW, the Great Sand Sea fell into anarchy. Both sides of the Great Game failed to gain an upper hand. Instead, a new type of hegemony arose.

### Fifth Hegemony

The Fifth Hegemony is unique in the fact that it was the only hegemony to arise during the Great Game that, instead of wielding it to their benefit, firmly opposed it. Instead of aligning themselves with either empire, the Fifth Hegemony opted for a neutral and reformist approach. They themselves refused to keep playing the Great Game. By 1166, they signed the Treaty of Kirikea, making preparations to unify into one administrative body. While the Fifth Hegemony was ready to seek a path of their own, they were ultimately a pawn unable to stop the Great Game. In a rare moment of unity, both empires made an agreement to take out the Fifth Hegemony. They began propping up warlords who opposed the Fifth Hegemony, assassinating its major leaders and carrying out raids. The insurmountable pressure from both empires caused the Fifth Hegemony to collapse in 1169 AW. In the decade that followed, the Great Game reached its height, with over 200 warlords rising and falling across the Great Sand Sea. Ultimately, it was Sallant, once more, who gained the upper hand.

### Sixth Hegemony

The rise of the Sallanthian-aligned Sixth Hegemony in 1180 AW marked the beginning of the end of the Great Game. Having spent a fortune in propping up loyalists in the wake of the Fifth Hegemony's collapse, only to end up as the loser, Zemica I withdrew from the Great Game. None of her successors resumed payments, concluding that the effort of gaining control over the Desert Lords far outweighed the rewards of doing so. Some border raids followed though these were repelled by the Da'al Monis. Now lacking competition, the Sallanthians began gradually scaling back their own bribes. In time, the Sixth Hegemony weakened further and further, as Sallant also began losing interest.

Yet, during the Great War, Emperor Muzai II showed renewed interest in the Great Game. Preparing for an invasion of Da'al Mon alongside the Monarchist exiles, he concluded that the Desert Lords could be a worthwhile ally. Payments increased and promises were made, and the warlords, becoming increasingly poorer and having nothing to lose, flocked to join the Sapphire League. By 1214 AW, they launched the Fifth Desert Lord Invasion which ended in an embarrassing failure. The Desert Lords' strength was a far cry from what it used to be, having grown increasingly complacent and weak. Support for raiding and warlordism was at an all-time low, and most warlords simply couldn't muster the same amount of militias as their predecessors. The Fifth Invasion ended in stalemate, though most of the Sixth Hegemony moved south to join the main Sallanthian invasion. Much like the Monarchists, Muzai II used them as meat shields for his own troops, yet the Desert Lords lacked the discipline of the Monarchists and failed in most battles. As the conflict between the empires died down and ended in stalemate, Muzai II led the Monarchists into the Great Sand Sea and, with assistance from the Desert Lords, turned on them to prevent paying for their services. As Sallanthian forces attacked from the south, the Sixth Hegemony was tasked with blocking off a northern path to retreat. Yet, despite being on home territory, the warlords failed, as their militias were low on supplies, demoralised from the humiliating defeats, and plagued with desertion before the battle. Most of the Monarchists escaped northwards towards Amagoi or northeastwards to Llendus.

With yet another failure by the Desert Lords, Muzai II no longer saw a point in continuing the Great Game. The pathetic sods calling themselves warlords under the Sixth Hegemony were a far cry from the terrifying scourges that had made up the earlier hegemonies. Before withdrawing from the Great Game, Muzai II summoned the Sixth Hegemony warlords to his war camp to reward them for their military assistance. Driven by their lust for wealth and power, the warlords came like lambs to the slaughter. Once gathered, the Sallanthian soldiers captured the warlords and any soldiers they had dragged along with them and beheaded them one at a time in front of Muzai II. This act in late 1214 AW marks the end of the Great Game, as neither empire showed any support to the Desert Lords from this point onwards.

Now on their own, the Desert Lords have most recently formed the independent Seventh Hegemony, which seeks a reformist approach mirroring the Fifth Hegemony. With no Great Game to crush them as the Fifth had been crushed, some wonder if the Desert Lords can finally modernise into a more stable body, or if they are doomed to infighting until nobody is left.

## Timeline

* 1069 AW - Rise of the First Hegemony favouring Sallant, Start of the Great Game.
* 1072 AW - First Invasion targetting Da'al Mon.
* 1075 AW - End of the First Invasion, Fall of the First Hegemony.
* 1080 AW - Rise of the Second Hegemony favouring Da'al Mon.
* 1092 AW - Second Invasion targetting Sallant.
* 1095 AW - End of the Second Invasion, Fall of the Second Hegemony, Rise of the Third Hegemony favouring Sallant.
* 1122 AW - Fall of the Third Hegemony.
* 1125 AW - Rise of the Fourth Hegemony favouring Sallant, Third Invasion targetting Da'al Mon.
* 1128 AW - End of the Third Invasion.
* 1130 AW - Fourth Hegemony begins favouring Da'al Mon.
* 1133 AW - Fourth Invasion targetting Sallant.
* 1135 AW - End of the Fourth Invasion, Fall of the Fourth Hegemony.
* 1155 AW - Rise of the Fifth Hegemony opting for neutrality.
* 1166 AW - Treaty of Kirikea.
* 1169 AW - Fall of the Fifth Hegemony.
* 1180 AW - Rise of the Sixth Hegemony favouring Sallant, Da'al Mon withdraws from the Great Game.
* 1214 AW - Fifth Invasion targetting Da'al Mon, Sixth Hegemony is destroyed by Muzai II.
* 1214 AW - Sallant withdraws from the Great Game, ending the conflict.