Golem Wars

Historians often debate if the Golem Wars were a series of wars in continuous sequence or a single large scale war. The current used definition is that of a series of conflicts, this is due to the way these wars were recorded, usually via poems of glory that treated the Golem's advance as a great war against all life itself (which was technically true), therefore some of the "wars" can be seen more as a symbolic conflict rather than an actual bellic one.

Onto the conflict itself, it was a series of wars caused by the Golem Army's expansion across Leitasia, it resulted in the end of the Old Epoch, the fall of several major civilizations, the migration of humans to Leitasia, establishment of new realms and many other significant changes on Ularstasia.

## History

### First Golem War (231 - 246):

The formal recognition of the First Golem War is more symbolic as it hadn't had any battles, in fact the major powers of the time didn't even know it was happening.

It starts when the Dark Marshal, a powerful Ancient Lich, wakes up from his sleep in the middle of the Golemic Desert in the year 231 AE and starts to build and army of Golems, humanoid-shaped stone constructs capable of movement and usually act by abiding to orders by the letter, and using said army to collect more resources to create more of them.

This period is marked by the constant improvement and growth of the Golem Army as it was still not fit for large scale combat until the end of the First Golem War.

### Second Golem War (246 - 258):

The Second Golem War marks the invasion of the Holy State of the Leviathan and the Crescent Empire, the two main leitasian powers at the time, by the Golem Army.

#### Invasion of the Crescent Empire:

It started with small regiments of the Golem Army attacking the underdeveloped settlements on the country's southwest, the inhabitants either died or fled to eastwards while villages and cities were being destroyed by the army, the Golems quickly moved east by the southern riverbank of the Moonshine River turning any population center they passed by into ruins.

This is the only period of the war where the Dark Marshal was seen in the battlefield. He was seen on two occasions, the first being when he destroyed the Crescent Empire's 2nd fleet in 250 and during the battle of Limenia in 253, in the latter it is said that he fought against a joint coalition of the empire's remaining powerful mages, including the emperor, and won, resulting in the fall of the city. The destruction of Old Limenia is marked by historians as the end of the Old Epoch and the beginning of the Middle Epoch.

With the capital and the western cities gone all that remained were the northern strongholds, which were slowly sieged during the next years of the war. The last city to be conquered was the Citadel of Old Crescentia, a massive fortress complex made to guard the border against monsters coming from the Moon's Valley and skirmishing armies from the Holy State of the Leviathan. The citadel lasted four years under siege, it was eventually destroyed when the local militia tried to break the siege and failed, ending the last bastion of the Crescent Empire in the year 258.

#### Invasion of the Holy State of the Leviathan:

Starting in 247 regiments of the Golem Army were allocated to the northern front located in the Holy State of the Leviathan, the army quickly conquered the towns south of the Serpentine River but couldn't cross it due to the State's fleet and mages. The war remained in a stalemate until 256, when the army finally managed to cross a section of the river, leading to a domino effect which collapsed the defense line on the northern riverbank. The Golems advanced through the countryside until they finally reached the City of the Waves in 257, they laid siege around the walls until the State's mages managed to bombard the surrounding land with explosion magic, making the river's and the ocean's water flow through the newly open canal, transforming the city into an island. In 258 all of the Holy State of the Leviathan was destroyed, with the sole exception of the City of the Waves.

The stalemate on the capital would remain until the end of the Golem Wars, with minor advancements from both sides, which were quickly reverted.

### Third Golem War (258-282)

The most notable characteristic of the Third Golem War is stagnation, the battle of Limenia had a steep cost for the Dark Marshal, aggravating his body's deterioration, because of that he returned into the depths of the Golemic Desert and stayed there commanding the army over a large distance.

#### First Phase: Stagnation (258-275)

With the Dark Marshal in the Golemic Desert the army's tactical capacity plummeted granting them a setback on the City of the Waves' siege. The Golems in what remained of the Cresent Empire simply wandered around without any clear objective, only hunting down any survivors in the ruins.

This lack of activity also allowed messagers from the Holy State of the Leviathan, who then informed the Antyaan Empire of the Golem's existence, which led to fortifications being built in the Margraviate of Etrevik, the Empire had no further response as the Golem Army was deemed incapable of crossing the Middle Sea.

## Trivia

* The Golem Wars can be considered the longest continuous millitary conflict of Ularstasia's history.