The Unification of Gonarundu

The Unification of Gonarundu is a series of trade and physical battles that King Domist of Ralom fought in order to unify Gonarundu as a single nation. The opponents he faced are known today as the Kings of Gonarundu, an age

before the nation was created where each King held their own land and often battled with one another for dominance in the area. Previously, the land was known as Odde though it is rarely called that now.

## Background

Odde is a large amount of land North of the mountains that border Courler. After the mysterious fall of the First Era, there was some time inbetween that has yet to be labelled. Rather, this time seems to be the rebirth of civilisation as many people began learning once more how to fight and how to build a society. When the Second Era begun many small cities had already begun growing, along with the leaders to rule them. In Odde there was a series of towns and cities held by Kings, allowing most of the land to be dominated and seperated into various city-states.

These city-states often fought one another in border disputes, only coming together when a force from another land came to invade or raid, such as Courler. When a battle was finished the city-states rarely claimed the land and went back to their own, abusing their newfound influence in the area through trade or other things.

Eventually in **260AB** a King from Ralom changed the game. Rather than call himself the forces of Ralom he was the King of Gonarundu, a name he held very seriously. When he had a border dispute he tried to take the opponents land instead, or 'liberate' it as he called. Once he had built a strong enough army from various vicitories he began fighting the city-states properly, bringing them under his rule if they lost. Though if he had the chance to use other means than violence, he would take it.

## Unification

As stated above, the King from Ralom or King Domist begun invading other city-states in order to unify Odde or what he called Gonarundu. Focussing on quick and swift battles, he first hit the areas surrounding him to secure his borders before moving outwards.

### Lomad

Lomad was a city close to Ralom in terms of borders, hugging one another. Lomad was also a strong opponent to

King Domist as his father had lost to him in the past, requiring extreme caution when taking the state. While his generals recommended he go elsewhere, Domist knew that if he failed to take out the state early it would attack him with a stronger force and could spell his doom.

During the night of Novollo, King Domist and his forces crossed the border and begun setting up a fortified camp near Lomad, hoping to bait the cities army into a confrontation early and end it with a decisive battle. Thankfully, due to their cockiness from previous victories over Ralom, Lomad's forces exited the city and attacked the encampment from all sides.

Domist proved himself a worthy general during this times, making sure the line was held while countering with any hole in the enemy lines he saw. Eventually him and his cavalry broke through and cut off the Lomad soldiers from the city. Now surrounded themselves, they surrendered and joined Domists army.

### The Dead City

After Lomad, King Domist and his forces were strengthened and he was able to take on more foes at once. He first sent a third of his forces to conquer Souther, a city-state of diwndling power and influence under the command of Dimru Aslan. With the rest of the Gonarundun forces, totally around 8,000, he went to the dead city.

The Dead City was a state claimed by a necromancer, fighting harsh battles to get there in order to animate the dead. The state barely fought after garnering its claim, causing many to believe the Necromancer either died or was building their forces. King Domist was ready to find out.

At the Dead City it was as expected, large numbers of undead strolled the land. King Domist has gone on to state if he had not taken them somehow by surprise, he would've likely lost the chance to claim the Dead City. Though, with no unified defence, the undead simply melted away at the large amounts of soldiers. When the city was in sight only few remained to defend, falling to the overwhelming numbers.

Though Scholars have questioned if the Necromancer was alive, explaining the lack of cohesion amongst the undead, a soldier recounts that when they breached the throne room there was still a hot drink remaining. King Domist was happy enough with the easy victory and returned to Ralom to sure up his defences for the Winter.

### Souther

The army led by Dimru Aslan met little resistance as well. As the King of Souther at the time had heard of what happened to Lomad they quickly surrendered once the army was in view. Some members of Souther went on to form a resistance to the Gonarunduns, but after attempts at the supply line to Ralom went south they proceeded to disband.

### Winter

With the next big city-state of Shepa as his target, King Domist spent the Winter preparing his defences of the newly claimed lands. He also managed some administration as well, funding enough for a sizeable standing army that could fight always rather than taking many of the farmers from the countryside. Conscripts from Souther and Ladom brought the now properly trained army up to 8,000 soldiers in total.a

### Shepa

Rather than face a long and daring siege, King Domist had managed to get spies to infiltrate the castle before the army marched. Though the siege was not the only problem his army faced.

#### Ambush

In **261AB** King Domist originally intended to send his army through the road from Ralom to Shepa, going through the Cibhua

Forest to keep hidden from sight. Instead of the surprise he got ambushed from both sides. While the line of soldiers were equipped incase of monsters, their lines remained thin to use the passage. Archers from Shepa hailed down arrows with spearman both attacking the line and blocking the path. Eventually the Gonarunduns mounted a defence and pushed back the ambushers, though took some casualties and wounds. 127 Soldiers died, with 376 being wounded.

#### Siege

Angered by the humiliating ambush, King Domist set his forces to besiege the castle. Shepa continued to try and attack the supply lines of their besiegers, but failed miserably during one attack and took too many losses to continue. After a few days spent surrounding the castle, King Domist grew bored and messaged his spies to open the castle from the river. The reason for this is during the days preparing the siege, he had sent his best trained soldiers down the river and into boats, waiting to attack the city from the inside in the perfect moment.

The plan almost failed when the spies were discovered during the night, forcing them to fight their way to the river gates and opening them. The elite soldiers faced some arrow fire when coming up the river but managed to enter the city and take the docks. From there they fought up to the walls where King Domist was forcing an all-out assault. When the gates opened from the inside, King Domist and his forces entered Shepa and took the city. Some civillians were killed during the attack, though most were spared from even looting. What was not spared, unlike in Ladom, was the King of the city-state. For the humiliation of the ambush, King Galtoz was put to death through a duel against King Domist. The ill-trained Shepa Monarch didn't stand a chance and was killed in the first swing, bringing the Shepa city-state into Gonarundun hands.

Some of the spies and most of the elite soldiers from the river assault survived, causing King Domist to honor them with trophies and medals. The most famous spy of the event was named Kimroc, who opened the gates despite taking wounds. One of the elite soldiers named Buzich was also saved in history, known for charging the dock guards and holding them off as the rest of his troops unloaded.

### Peganook

With Shepa under Gonarundun control and leadership, the city-state of Peganook quickly submit to King Domist. An army was sent to garrison the city but with the threat of a trade cut-off from most of Eastern Odde and the river heading South they never rebelled.

### Deyver

With Shepa and Peganook under control, the city-state of Deyver was next. Unlike Peganook they could not be stopped with trade embargos, holding their city on the coast. So, after another recruitment drive in Shepa along with new administration, the army for Unification set forth.

Since Deyver was so far North the city held no strong walls, forcing the armies to meet in the field near the coast. King Serol chose the location, finding a nice hill that he would force the Gonarunduns to climb. He knew he was outnumbered so small fortifications were set up to protect his flanks.

Knowing he could not get Deyver out of the fortifications, King Domist pushed his units forward. The long spears managed to hit the enemy before they themselves were even touched, simply toughening out the incoming arrow fire. With the two armies colided it became a battle of the better troops which the experienced Gonarunduns had the edge in. On the flanks, two more spearman units shoved in and hit the enemy at an angle, forcing them backwards.

At the back King Domist rode around and offered inspiring words for his soldiers. It was here that an arrow from the Deyver soldiers almost hit him in the chest, which would've likely killed the King and changed the course of history, fortunately for the Gonarunduns the King had his shield prepared for just the situation. It did make the soldiers fight harder though, pushing into the enemy and forcing them back.

As the hours passed the Gonarunduns continued to push, slowly gaining ground. King Serol and his forces tried shoving more soldiers in the way to block the holes but the skill and ability of King Domists troops was apparent. Eventually the casualties grew too much and King Serol called for a retreat, leaving a line of soldiers in the way. The retreat did not go to plan as King Domists cavalry galloped to the city in order to cut off whatever unseen route they were using. The King of Deyver saw the writing on the wall and surrendered, bringing his territory under Gonarundun control.

### Achil

During the times that Gonarundu was being unified, Achil acted as a fort to deter any attacks from Courlerians into the Gonarundun border. While the fort was mostly neutral, it was still not under Gonarundun control. King Domist originally wished to siege the fort to take it but realised if the fort was damaged in any way the Courlerians could attack the weakened nation. Thus, King Domist and the Gonarunduns infilitrated the fort using a secret passage, opening the gates and allowing the army to walk through easily. Not many resources have discovered how they entered so easily and where the path was though it is likely due to King Domist not wishing to reveal the weaknesses in the fort.