The Great Acquisition

Nardan forces sinking a Soulaani ship

Nardan Invasion of riddenheim - 2/5/2023

**The Great Acquisition** (also known as the **Coalition War**, or the **Great War**) was one of the most devastaing wars in Keranos history. It was fought between two coalitions: the Anti-Soulaan coalition (primarily Narda, the SSL, The NAE and Fungolia) fighting against the Headless Horsemen Society (primarily Soulaan). The war had seen a rise in technology, especially that of movecraft, and is the longest war ever seen in Keranos.

## Background

### Soulaan

Soulaan, initially a part of the Flogosian nation of Ocha would gain a foothold during the Flogsian Migration settling in the region of Ameth. Soulaan would quickly go down in history as controversial due to it's use of so called "Clanners" (Which are defined as players that only join to fight wars) and the killing of neutral civilians during the Newgen Wars.

Soulaan had previoulsy fought with many nations, most notably against Narda in the Azlerian War, and with the Atlas corporation during the Atlas war.

### The Great Game

Soulaan's previous reputation in the international community, and continued threats and remarks towards the NAE would begin tensions between the two countries, with the two starting an arms race and alliances to inevitably fight one another. Soulaan would initially have the upper hand on the Anti-Soulaan coalition, as Soulaan had more skilled pvpers, and the backing of a shadow alliance, known simply as the Headless horsemen society.

### The Arcturan Spring

Many nations during this period would see nothing but weakness in the superpower of NAE, with many taking the opportunity to cease territory, or to declare their independence, most notably the city of Kartonia would form the Sapphire league, and soon after the newly acquired NAE town of Metz (Aryth at the time) would join Soulaan. this would anger the NAE, and their allies.

### Narda

Narda, after being victorious during the Narda-Kralon War would turn it's attention to the other two powers, seeing that a war would be inevitable it would seek to pick a side. Although initially siding with Soulaan, it would switch sides and form a coalition against it's former ally of Soulaan. this would be due to multiple reasons, mainly due to distrusting Soulaan's leader Oceanman, and numerous remarks and insults towards the Nardan ally of the Southern Sapphire League and their leader. Narda would officially side with the NAE in secret, and would monitor and spy on the Republic of Soulaan for a time.

### Gre-Hiemso Dispute

Gre-Hiemso was a city created inside of Soulaani territory by members of the Gragonian State. This dispute would turn into a full-scale assault by Soulaani forces, as Soulaan members Oceanman and Ultraduck would murder the leader of the Gragonian State. The killing of Gragon would start an uproar in the Anti-Soulaan coalition, as one of their main leaders had just gotten killed.

After initial panic inside the coalition, they would decide that waiting for further aggression would be the best for the coalition.

## Course of the War

### War breaks out in the Silver Sea

*Main article: Battle of the Silver Sea*

After the long awaited movecraft update released, the Empire of Narda and Soulaan would be the first nations to build proper naval vessels, and would use these ships to capture the Seazones on the map. seeing this as a prime opportunity, Ornef would go against his orders and fire upon a Soulaani ship. later that day, the Empire of Narda and the Republic of Soulaan would be in a state of war against one another.

The silver sea would be one of the most contested areas during the early stages of the war, the Battle of the Silver sea would be won by the joint Narda-Sapphire naval command after sinking two large Soulaani ships.

### Battle of the Lonruil Sea

*Main article: Battle of Seazone 4*

After countless attempts, Soulaan would start an all out attack on Seazone 4, with 3 of Soulaan's strongest pvpers they would attempt to capture the seazone. soon after a group of Nardan pvpers would show up, and in desperation the Nardan soldier Penguinonpvp would kamikazi the ship, which would sink it. the siege would end in a Nardan victory.

The Battle of the Lonruil sea would go on for a few days after this, mainly turning into a back and forth over the control of the seazone. Ultimately, while Soulaan would suffer tremendous casualties, including the deaths of Roman and Ultraduck, Narda would still retain control of the area.

### Riddenheim Revolution

*Main article: Riddenheim Revolution*

During the ongoing skirmishes in the Lonruil Sea, Joris Bohnson, the governor of the island, proclaimed the 4th kingdom of Riddenheim and seceded from the Empire. Initially taken by surprise, Emperor Osmeus II would call for an emergency meeting of the council, the final decision was given to form a task force to retake the islands as quickly as possible, to prevent reinforcements from Soulaan arriving from the island.

Soulaani soldiers would arrive in Riddenheim, though a large storm would devastate much of their transport fleet, leaving a far smaller veteran regiment to be the only assistance remaining. The task force assaulted the city of New Squidia, besting the vastly outnumbered Soulaani that had just arrived. With their numbers, the Nardans quickly captured the Riddenheimer docked fleet and occupy the rest of the island. Soulaan's military would never recover, and the outcome of the Battle of Squidida was a turning point in the war.

### The Siege of Soulaan

*Main article: The Siege of Soulaan*

On 18/02/2023, Coalition forces laid siege to the city of Soulaan. The city would go through several regime changes in the ensuing chaos, with Taha Razing becoming its ruler when Shakur Ningzhang forfeited control. Taha would negotiate several times with the Coalition, with no results. Eventually, Taha would flee with the Soulaani treasury and leave the city to defend itself. Soulaan endured until the arrival of Lodonian airships, at which point the last holdouts of resistance were destroyed

The Coalition systematically worked their way through the residential part of the city, killing everyone they encountered and firing the buildings behind them. It was only by the end that generals agreed to accept prisoners. At the end of the siege, whoever wasn't a prisoner or runaway was dead and the Coalition proclaimed ultimate victory against the Soulaani.

## Aftermath of the War

### Soulaan

Soulaan was, in near entirety, destroyed. The majority of remaining Soulaani were scattered across Ameth as nomadic tribesmen. The Necro-Arcturus Empire attempted a project to completely remove any trace of Soulaan City, destroying much of its remains; the project was abandoned several weeks after its initiation, leaving a small portion of the city standing. This would later be resettled, under the control of the SSL, as the Imperial City.

### Narda

Soulaan's defeat elevated Narda into the world's predominant military superpower, ushering in a new Pax Narda upon Keranos. This period would be marked by a sharp rise in technology, and the abundance of movecraft ships led to wider communication across the continent. Narda itself would go through a wave of change: the easing of tensions and new methods of warfare led to mass unemployment as the army began to decrease its numbers. In response, Osmeus II began an enormous, decades-long plan with the goal of expanding industry, land and creating a new city and capital for the Empire.

### NAE

The Necro-Arcturus Empire came out of the war as strong as it began. Their negotiations with Taha resulted in the annexation of Philistine into the empire and the gifting of the entire Soulaan treasury to them.

### SSL

For the Southern Sapphire League, the war had been a complete success: Kartonia continued to be the centre of movecraft technology, the curse of Ornef was lifted and the New Faith had spread in swathes, especially to the NAE. Perhaps the largest change was the dissolution of the SSL and creation of the Imperium Aurem, a new Empire seeking to replace the pillar that Soulaan left vacant; even reforming the remains of Soulaan’s capital into the Imperial City.