Second Novean War

The Second Novean War (also abbreviated as NW II) was one of the most significant conflicts of Ceal. It was centered around the gathering of the Crystal Shards and the restoration of the Crystal Seal by the Chosen of Nova, leading up to the eventual revival of the Goddess Nova. This war eventually grew in scale to encompass the entirety of Ceal, and also marked the end of the age-old rivalry between the Republic of Cetara and the Holy Kingdom of Aidenous. The course of NW II can roughly be divided into four phases: The Cetaran Incursion, the Grand Crusade, the Goddess' Advance, and the United Retaliation. The Second Novean War is the subject of the Crystal Seal Chronicle.

## Preface

Around the year AN 1000, the political climate in the world of Ceal was relatively stable, but not without its tensions. It could also be described as a precarious balance.

The Kingdom of Phryconia and the Domain of Ninanjiro had long since recovered from the gruels of the First Novean War, and were flourishing as before. The Republic of Cetara, meanwhile, was still recovering. Having effectively lost almost all of its technology in NW I and its aftermath, and due to the immense civilian casualties also suffered a huge loss of accumulated knowledge, even after a thousand years, the Republic of Cetara was nowhere near the technological level it possessed before NW I. However due to being able to salvage at least *some* of its old technology, it was still the most technological advanced nation on Ceal.

The Holy Kingdom of Aidenous, meanwhile, was experiencing a crisis of faith. About a hundred years ago, it had finally finished to unite both Pelagia and Rida under the banner of the Novean Faith. With this religion being a cornerstone of the nation, everybody had been looking forward to the coming of the Chosen of Nova in the year AN 1000 and the subsequent return of the Goddess Nova as prophetized in the Kenieto. However, AN 1000 had come and gone, and even over a decade later there was no sign of the Chosen of Nova anywhere in sight. As such, the people's faith began to waver, and since it had been this faith that had kept the diverse people of Pelagia and Rida tied together, political tensions were slowly but surely building up in Aidenous.

Meanwhile, Aidenous and Cetara also had a cold war of sorts ongoing. True to their religion, the people of Aidenous viewed the Wel of Cetara as vile beasts who had taken the Goddess Nova away from them a thousand years ago and treated them as such. Even non-Cetaran Wel were treated little better than beasts or livestock in all of Aidenous, which in turn caused the Cetarans to think poorly of the Aideneans. However, due to the fact that Cetara and Aidenous were located on opposite sides of the world, actual armed conflicts were relatively limited in number.

## The Cetaran Incursion

All of this changed when in AN 1019, a Nefilim boy by the name of Bokay found one of the Crystal Shards near the town of Selim on Rida. Setting out on a pilgrimage to deliver the Crystal Shard to the Crusaders' citadel city of Fienyn together with his older sister Sylvia, their godmother and mentor Idra, and his newly found Puky Eyaru, at this point few people in the Holy Kingdom of Aidenous were even aware of the significance of the events this journey should set in motion. However, the discovery of a Crystal Shard was unanimously seen as a fortuitous omen by the followers of the Novean Faith, and served to reinforce the belief of all who heard of it. As such, the pilgrimage of Bokay and his companions had - at the very least - a very powerful symbolic character from the very start.

It was shortly there after that the Cetaran incursions in Aidenous began. Using small, mobile task forces, they managed to avoid the bulk of the Aidenean armed forces while seeking to stop or hinder Bokay and his companions in their pilgrimage. As Bokay somehow managed to find more and more Crystal Shards that had been hidden for over a millennium, it eventually became apparent that Bokay was indeed the Chosen of Nova, and was already in the process of gathering the pieces of the Crystal Seal as foretold in the Libereja.

The Cetarans, fearing nothing more than the return of the Goddess Nova, redoubled their efforts to stop the Chosen of Nova, but were limited in the actions they could take by the fact that the Chosen of Nova was operating within the territory of Aidenous. Nonetheless, this part of the war saw such events as the occupation of the Eskulian Highlands, the torching of Fienyn, and the battle of the Lasiondyr Canyon. For a while, the Cetarans were able to successfully disrupt communications within Aidenous, and so it was not until AN 2020, when the Chosen of Nova reached the Holy Capital of Aidenous with more than half of the Crystal Shards already in his possession, that all of Aidenous became aware of the Chosen's appearance and was ready for joined action against the Cetaran forces.

After this, the Cetarans changed their tactics. Using the remaining Crystal Shards to lure the Chosen to the Jel-Archipelago while keeping the Aidenean army busy with attacks on Rida and Pelagia, they hoped to stop the Chosen of Nova. For this, the Cetaran Regents themselves took to the field, but were in the end unsuccessful in stopping the Chosen of Nova, mostly due to the fact that the soul of Nova's divine beast Licos had by now awoken within Bokay, and was enabling to use limited amounts of Minayero without the normally associated mortal danger.

In the end, the chosen of Nova was able to gather all of the Crystal Shards and reassemble the Crystal Seal at Sky's Tear, breaking through a last bastion of Cetaran resistance in the process of doing so. However, one of his most trusted companions betrayed Bokay in the very moment he finished assembling the Crystal Seal, killing him and sealing his soul within an Iserial Crystal, as well as taking the Crystal Seal for the Cetarans. He then proceeded to dispose of the Chosen's retinue, leaving them for dead, and taking the Crystal Seal to Meviek.

Unbeknownst to the Cetarans, however Licos had avoided being captured together with Bokay's soul and saved the lives of Bokay's companions so they might reclaim the Crystal Seal and finish the Chosen's sacred duty.

## The Grand Crusade

After the events of Sky's Tear, Licos' soul transferred to Sylvia, granting her the powers of the Chosen of Nova. Being several years older than her brother, Sylvia was able safely handle a larger amount of Minayero, and fuelled by anger over the loss of her brother was also willing to accept the pain that came with channelling larger amounts of the divine Iserial Energy. As such, and much to her dismay, she soon became known as the True Chosen of Nova, and the people of Aidenous - who were originally devastated by the rumours of the Chosen's demise - took heart again, and were now fully prepared to go to all-out war with the Republic of Cetara and reclaim the Crystal Seal.

The following conflict played out mostly between Cetara and Aidenous, with Ninanjiro and Phryconia staying mostly neutral. The Cetarans - having achieved their war goal of capturing the Crystal Seal - were now playing defensively, and as such the war front shifted from Pelagia and Rida to the Zodiac Isles, other islands of the Yaeresic Ocean, and even as far as the coasts of Ultros. However, it soon became apparent that the Cetarans had been holding back during the first phase of the war, and had not fully played out their technological supremacy before. On the other hand, the Holy Kingdom of Aidenous featured many skilled Iserialogists. However, the ultimate result was still that the war quickly deteriorated into a back-and-forth across the Yaeresic Ocean, with neither side gaining the upper hand.

In the meantime, however, Sylvia and her companions were taking a roundabout way into Cetara. Using the Aidenean Army as a distraction, they travelled covertly over Ventana and managed to make it all the way to Eknaria before being noticed by the Cetarans. By then, the Cetaran army was already quite preoccupied with the Aidenean forces, and as such, Sylvia and her companions managed to break through to Ultros and advance all the way to the pocket realm of Meviek, where they eventually ascended the capital city of Helix, stormed the inner sanctuary of Ierhayera, and managed to defeat Ozymandias, the leader of the Cetaran Regents, thus reclaiming the Crystal Seal.

The events that followed were largely chaotic. Having been exposed to conflicting recounts of the First Novean War from people all over the world, Sylvia and her friends had gradually grown more apprehensive of the version of events that had been propagated by the Novean Faith. They had considerable doubts about whether they should actually go ahead with freeing Nova as was their initial plan, and even Sylvia was mostly in it for getting revenge for her brother Bokay. However, by then Licos was firmly lodged within Sylvia's psyche, and in a moment of weakness managed to completely take her over and undo the Crystal Seal, thus heralding the return of the Goddess Nova.

## The Goddess' Advance

The Goddess Nova, having awakened in Meviek, made it he topmost priority to return to Ceal, where all of her followers were gathered. Over the centuries, she had managed to prepare a sizeable force of Angels within the Crystal Seal, which she now unleashed on Meviek to cover her retreat, taking the possessed Sylvia with her. Sylvia's companions only barely avoided being obliterated by the Goddess when they refused to bow to her, and were saved by the Blade of the Dragon.

Nova managed to make her way to the Holy Kingdom of Aidenous relatively quickly, though not unscathed. The Cetarans, having managed to excavate a limited supply of Godslayers, actually managed to wound her on her way out, much to the Goddess' fury. However, Nova kept her priorities to rejoin her followers in Aidenous, and eventually managed to make her way to Pelagia.

There, her return was joyously celebrated by the Aideneans. As it turned out, the five remaining Archangels - under the lead of Amadeus Zeb'Lun - had actually survived ever since the first Novean War, and had managed to avoid the attention of the Cetarans on account of them having been preoccupied with rebuilding their own nation half the world away. Ever since, they had been busy preparing for this moment, regularly assuming new identities while pulling the strings behind the scenes to build a great nation filled with followers of the Novean Faith.

Once in Aidenous, the Goddess Nova went on a tour around the country to show herself to the people and restore their faith. However, she was very displeased to learn that Wel had been allowed into Aidenous, even if it was only as servants, pets or slaves, and internally decreed their purge from Aidenous, as well as the curtailing of rights for the remaining Original Species in favour of the Novean Species. This should eventually cause discontent among parts of the population, especially more remote communities that had not followed the government's anti-Wel course very strictly.

With the addition of the Goddess and her Angels, the war finally became global. The Domain of Ninanjiro had not yet forgotten the gruels of the First Novean War, and as such immediately declared their unlimited support for the Republic of Cetara. Meanwhile, the Holy Kingdom of Aidenous, which had worked to maintain close relations with the Kingdom of Phryconia in the past, managed to convince the more short-term oriented Phryconians to enter the war on their side.

Of course, the united Novean forces had a significant advantage in the war from the beginning thanks to the addition of the Angels in their ranks. As such, the war front between Aidenous and Cetara soon reached Ultros, and before long, Ultros great trade city of Aeryamaru was under siege.

In the meantime, Sylvia's former companions had rallied under the leadership of Theres Malumbra, and had decided to work together with the Cetarans in order to get Sylvia back, as well as stop Nova, who in their eyes had betrayed the trust they had all put in her. Joining forces with the Cetaran Regent Ozymandias Lifrakeiz and the Cetaran General Senahoy Nodies, they made their way back to Ceal and managed to arrive in Aeryamaru just in time to beat back the invasion.

From there on, Theres and her companions played a significant role in turning the war around. While the Cetarans somehow managed to stabilize the war front somewhere in the Yaeresic Ocean again, Theres and her companions travelled to Eknaria and managed to change the minds of the Phryconians through trial by combat. Afterwards, they made their way to southern Rida, where they found a budding resistance about to be crushed by one of the Archangels. Working together, they managed to beat back the Archangel and establish the Egalitarian League of Aidenous as a counter-front to the Holy Kingdom of Aidenous. This was the effective beginning of a civil war within Aidenous.

The Egalitarian League of Aidenous was able to secure the more Wel-friendly province of South Rida with relative ease. However, while trying to cross the Maaring Coast Road to Central Rida, they suffered a grave setback as they were opposed by the possessed Sylvia, who due to the power of Licos was able to sustain her Divine Protection indefinitely, and unlike even greater Angels was able to reactivate it after it was destroyed by a Godslayer. As such, the Egalitarian army was forced to retreat.

It was not until Theres and her friends managed to reincarnate Bokay as an Iserial Creature with the help of a mysterious Draykin woman, and with the help of Bokay free Sylvia of Licos' control that the Egalitarian League of Aidenous managed to gain ground in the Aidenean civil war. Supported now by Cetara, Phryconia and Ninanjiro, the remainder of the Rida quickly fell under its control, and a tooth-and-nail battle was fought over Pelagia, but eventually all of the Archangels were forced to flee, and King Frederic Schwanthaler IV, who had covertly been held captive by Amadeus, was officially reinstated as the ruler of Aidenous, and at once repealed the racist policies that had wrongfully been passed in his name. With this, most of the people of Ceal now stood united against Nova once again.

## The United Retaliation

As the downfall of Nova's kingdom became apparent, the Goddess and her Archangels retreated to Clyainlero in order to plan their next move. Rising up to the Stratopause, Clyainlero was effectively inaccessible to all creatures of Ceal with the exception of Dracoforms from the Ilyfra-Clan. Even the Cetarans, who had by then managed to salvage airship technology on Meviek, had yet not managed to begin production airships on Ceal, and with the Ceal-Meviek Causeway having been severely damaged during the course of the war until then, it had become temporarily impossible to bring any airships from Meviek to Ceal.

At this point in time, the only operable airship on Ceal was the Reginleif, which fortunately had ended up in the possession of Sylvia and her companions. However, groups of Novean supporters centered around more Novean-aligned factions of the Crusaders and the Sky Knights were springing up all over Aidenous, trying to overthrow the local governments. Calling themselves the Inquisitors, they caused considerable unrest and had to be dealt with before the offensive against Nova could proceed any further.

Eventually, Sylvia and her companions launched their attack against Clyainlero. Determined to use Licos' power - which still resided within Sylvia - to defeat Nova for good, they managed to defeat the Archangels, but had to learn that Nova in the meantime had retreated all the way to Minayeiranro on Feera.

Having learned about the considerable defenses protecting Minayeiranro, as well as having to expect opposition by space-adapted Angels, some time was spent getting the Reginleif into top-shape. This included the reactivation of some ancient weapons from the Iserial War. In the meantime, the various nations of Ceal were still busy dealing with the Inquisitors, as well as the Angels that were still ravaging parts of Ceal.

Eventually, the Reginleif began its mission against Nova. In the space between Ceal and Feera they were opposed by a fleet of Angels, and the massive defensive fire from Minayeiranro proved to be a considerable challenge. However, in the end, Sylvia and her friends managed to enter Nova's palace, but soon found themselves opposed by Curie Void, the latest of Nova's creations, and an apparent replica of Sylvia, being able to use Minayero at-will.

However, Sylvia and her companions managed to overcome Curie, and make their way to the innermost part of Minayeiranro, where they confronted and - thanks to Sylvia using the power of Licos against Nova - managed to defeat the Goddess. Yet in a final act of retaliation, Nova used Minayero to bring Feera on a collision course with Ceal, intending to destroy the world entirely. With no alternatives left, Sylvia stayed behind on Feera and used Minayero to destroy it, sacrificing herself in the process since Licos had also disappeared with Nova's defeat.

## Aftermath

Although Sylvia had managed to stop Feera from colliding with Ceal altogether, and while most of the fragments of Feera sailed off into space or started to form another ring around Ceal at Feera's former orbit, a substantial number of fragments still rained down on Ceal, causing widespread destruction. The largest fragment impacted on the Asuar Ridge, destroying it completely and causing a cataclysmic tsunami that devastated the shores of all the continents of Ceal. It left behind an almost perfectly circular crater, some parts of the rim of which were high enough to rise above sea level, thus forming the Asuar Atoll.

This devastating event later came to become known as the Feeran Impact, and apart from its immediate consequences should also have some long-time effects. It is unknown whether the seeds for this were planted even before Nova brought Feera on a collision course, or whether it was a side effect of the immense amounts of Minayero that both Nova and Sylvia used on Feera, but after some time, peculiar Angel-like creatures started emerging near where the fragments of Feera had impacted, with the most creatures appearing near the centre of the Asuar Atoll, where the remains of the largest fragment of Feera had by some unnatural means formed a crystalline island filled with unnatural plants and animals.

These strange creatures turned out to be highly aggressive, and came to be known as Fallen Angels due to the fact that they were effectively caused by the fall of the Goddess Nova, resembled Angels, but served no Deity. These Fallen Angels, together with the damage caused by the Feeran Rain and the fact that many Inquisitors were still at large, should occupy the people of Ceal for quite some time afterwards, and the subject of the Feeran Dawn sidestory.