Twelve Years' War

Combatants| Varslavic Alliance* Korletsvoy
* Svinnya
* Sachaly
* Rossoryevsk
* Guvyurt
* Korokhovo
* Belgodonsk
* Halubinya
* Carmieny
* Farasy

The Twelve Years' War was a large conflict taking place in southern Tairghol. It embroiled almost the entire Varslavic and Duslavic lands in a savage and vicious war raging for over a decade. In the aftermath, nothing was gained and the region was severely weakened - leading to the relative success of the Kaiganese and Rydrovian cultures in the following decades.

## Background

Despite their names, the Varslavlians and Duslavlians are very different cultures. Though they are bred from the same stock, over time they have taken on different cultural values and beliefs. These differences often lead to conflict between the neighbouring peoples.

The prelude to the Twelve Years' War was no different. A Korletsian merchant, denied entry into the Kharkasian city of Rymdov, complained of harsh treatment upon his return home. The distance was far enough that King Vladislav III of Korletsvoy, with no other information on the dispute, misinterpreted this as Kharkasy imposing a full embargo upon his nation without reason or cause.

Still, the distance was far enough, and trade between the two sparse enough, that King Vladislav ignored the supposed embargo. Several weeks later though, when taking a meal with the Czars of Rossoryevsk and Guvyurt, he mentioned the incident in an offhand comment. These two Czars both bordered Kharkasy, and were constantly looking for weaknesses and opportunities. As such, they seized upon Vladislav's comment and convinced the Korletsian King, in his drunken state, to take it as a threat to the safety of all Varslavlians.

And so the Varslavlians prepared for war. Rossoryevsk and Guvyurt pledged their allegiance to the cause, quickly dragging their neighbours Belgodonsk and Korokhovo into the fight as well. Korletsvoy used its influence to ensure the cooperation of its two smaller Varslavlian neighbours Svinnya and Sachaly.

Kharkasy wasn't ignoring this. Agents in Varslavlian lands alerted the Kharkasians of military preparations, so they reached out to other Duslavlians. Kharkasy managed to outrage its neighbours enough to gain defensive alliances with every other Duslavic state.Template:War

## Opening Stages (601 - 605)

The tense situation was set off in June 601 with a Rossoryevski incursion into Kharkasian land. When they were chased out by a patrol three times the size, their leader Ritsa Aleksei Larionov claimed he was 'chasing a lost sheep', and cited aggression by the escorting Kharkasian forces as an act of war. This clever trick ensured the international community believed the Duslavlians were the aggressors, and this misinformation stayed in the mainstream for over a century before Larionov's trick was uncovered by his great-grandson in 713.

Larionov's forces were met at the border by a far larger Rossoryevski mounted force, which encircled the Kharkasian patrol and annihilated it at the Battle of Larionov's Border. With this act, the cat was out of the bag. Belgodonskoy, Guvyurti and Korokhovan forces waiting nearby joined Larionov's reinforced corps and marched east into Kharkasy proper.

The force quickly reached the Kharkasian city of Khirivostok, putting it under siege. The Belgodonskoy army, along with mounted troops from Rossoryevsk, continued east under Ritsa Nikodem Cherovich. They defeated Kharkasian armies at Tosnoy, Mergut and Tagovkar before finding tribal forces from Farasy had flanked them to the north, and Carmien forces from the south. Cherovich was defeated decisively in late August at the Battle of the Mamas River and forced to retreat. He greatly overestimated the size of the Farasian and Carmien armies, and sent riders to warn Larionov of the approaching foes.

Due to the overestimate, Larionov abandoned his siege and retreated in mid-September. The tides continued to turn against the Varslavlians when Kharkasian troops, scattered to the south after Cherovich's victories, launched an invasion of Guvyurt led by Rikar Shursha Vyacheslav. They razed the town of Yeleversk at around the same time Larionov abandoned his siege, then took Probirsk in late September.

Korletsian forces under Rytsa Vitaliy Tarasovich arrived in late October, and would have made progress against Vyacheslav's forces if not for the harsh Ghornish winter less than a month later. Vyacheslav's men spent the winter of 601-602 in Probirsk, with Tarasovich's men camped in the neighbouring town of Khabakovo. Further north, Larionov's men wintered in the Rossoryevski capital Krasnolovsk, with the Farasian and Carmien forces encircling the city. Cherovich retreated all the way through Rossoryevsk, completing the march back to Belgodonsk by early December.

The following spring, hostilities resumed. Tarasovich gained the upper hand in Guvyurt, encircling Probirsk and trapping Vyacheslav's men. In Krasnolovsk the opposite was true - Farasian men under Haloun Glebo z Noridar laid siege to the city defended by Larionov and almost the entire Ghornish host. The only free Ghornish armies were under Cherovich, recuperating in the Belgodonskoy border city of Tobosta.

The status quo was broken in April when Vyacheslav ran out of food. He surrendered and was taken into captivity along with his senior commanders and any noblemen in the force. Tarasovich allowed the levied portion of the Kharkasian force, some five thousand men, to disperse and return home after leaving their arms and armour in Probirsk. When these arrangements were completed half a week later, Tarasovich turned north to relieve the Siege of Krasnolovsk.

Tarasovich reached Krasnolovsk on the same day as a similarly-sized Kharkasian force under Rikar Rodin Vsevolodov. Unable to hold a position outside the city, Tarasovich was forced to challenge the besiegers and hope Larionov would sally out to assist. The ensuing Battle of Krasnoy Fields was, while a tactical Varslavlian victory, a stalemate of a battle drawn out over several days. Both sides suffered appalling losses, and this disastrous fight cut six months off the 602 campaign - the Duslavlians retreated back into Kharkasy where they remained until the following March, and the Varslavlians refrained from following.