Atlechian-Vulperium War

The Atlechian-Vulperium War was a regional conflict taking place between the Kingdom of Atlechia and The Vulperium and it's allies following the Vulperium annexation of Ahalia, which Atlechia had previously declared war on. Following the declaration, Atlechia would amass a mercenary army and invade the Vulperium city of Lazodi, to which it was beaten back in a decisive defense by the Vulperium and it's allies, notably The Hands. The war ended on the 29th March, 2022 after a decisive Vulperium victory at the Battle of Lazodi on the 12th March, 2022 and several weeks of peace talks and war dodging.

Early Relationship
Atlechia and Ahalia are two bordering nations in the Pentamorea region of the Arsine continent. The roots of the conflict stem back to late December of 2021, when a legal conflict arose over Atlechia's claims and hold on several territories bordering Ahalia. The expansionist kingdom of Atlechia was denounced by Emperor Theo for allegedly neglecting the care of these lands and letting it fall into ruin and depopulation.

Ahalia then moved in and had new structures built on the disputed land, after which king Swen made an attack on these Ahalians, deepening the crisis.

A neutral party, the court of the nation Qadakh, was asked to make a ruling on this matter and is said to have ruled in Atlechia's favor. Ahalia did not recognize the integrity of the judge, claiming Atlechia engaged in bribery and corruption, and thus Emperor Theo continued his policies towards them, with further Atlechian blood shed in the battle of Agoge.

This conflict would sour the long-lasting relations between the two nations and remain in king Swen's rhetoric as a national injustice to be repaid in time.

Prelude to the War
In the midst of regional chaos, following a devastating succession dispute known as the Ahalian Civil War, the Autokrator of the Ahalian Empire Theo Zevedeos would make a move to allow the Serene Republic of Novastonia to annex Ahalia into it's lands. This was however rejected by the people of Ahalia who broke out into rebellion. These rebels were led by Wambold Zevedeos, the failed former civil war crown-claimant. They would succeed in securing Ahalian independence, but not without losing many of the Empire's former territories.

Atlechia and Ahalia got off to a fresh start with the dissolution of the Empire and the ascension of King Wambold. During the events of the revolt, Wambold and king Swen had been in discussions on what would happen after the war, with talks of a possible unification afterwards brought up. During such talks, Swenking would get the impression that Wambold promised that Ahalia would join Atlechia after the war. Arindor would argue this by stating that he never actually agreed to the deal, and the deal only mattered if military action occured, which it didn't. Regardless, Atlechia declared war on Ahalia with intentions to place a puppet king on the throne.

Wambold would begin negotiating with BeastlyBrock, Grand Valar of the Vulperium, about unification, as Wambold had learned of Atlechian plans to invade the Vulperium and divide it between itself and it's allies, with Swen even promising the lands of Bai to Ahalia in exchange for vassalship. Seeing as an invasion of his lands was going to occur regardless of what happened, Brock would agree to allow Ahalia to join as a Duchy. This would greatly anger Swenking, who later wrote numerous responses in a rushed and blunderous manner, which would be seen as a national embarrassment for Atlechia and quickly prohibit him from receiving international support. He would send an ultimatum to the Vulperium, demanding the lands of Ahalia as well as $1,000,000 and a public apology, to which he was laughed at by Vulpur leadership. They would promptly deny the ultimatum, which led to Atlechia declaring war on the Vulperium.

Declaration of War
Atlechia would declare war upon the Vulperium following the denial of the ultimatum. Immediately, their ally of Belmore would declare official support, followed by a call for support by Wambold Zevedeos to the allies of Vulperium and beyond. An official response by BeastlyBrock would be written, similarly calling for assistance from their allies. Many nations would declare neutrality, notabily Duruk Kunar, an ally of Atlechia, and the U.S.S.E, a longtime ally of the Vulperium.

Vulperium's allies would begin to honour the call, from the Pale and Anglunia to Sylvania and Vladigrad. Oddly, the Vulperium would be contacted by the Hands, a mercenary organisation mostly based in Rathnir, offering assistance in the conflict, to which the Vulperium swiftly agreed. The Hands would play a major part in the defense of Lazodi, and were vital to the Vulpur victory. Oceanum, Eleanor and Rodinnbrok would follow suit.

Both sides began preparing for a battle, with much discussion taking place over where the battle would take place, with the fort of Crescent Bay, Jepola, or Aroforn being prime candidates, but it was decided that Lazodi would host the fight. Atlechia would begin recruiting mercenaries and enemies of the Vulperium to help with the battle, beginning a mass mobilisation in Atlechia City and preparing defenses. Plans were discovered by Vulperium spies that showed how the Atlechian forces planned to divide the entire Vulperium into several occupation zones that would be annexed into their respective states, which greatly angered the Vulperium authorities, and prompted more volunteers to assist the Vulperium.

Just before the battle would occur, the Atlechian towns of Astonia, Deepstead and Oratia would declare independence under the banner of Aima Percivia, citing their anger with the war and their desire to break away from the Atlechian crown. Atlechia would deny their independence whilst the Vulperium would support the rebels claims for freedom.

The defenders of Lazodi planned to create a gigantic pitfall trap in the streets of Lazodi, covered by powdered snow. This would be discovered by the Atlechian forces days before, to which the Vulperium was mocked for, but the traps proved to be essential to the Atlechian defeat in the end. Berry bushes would surround the walls, and the Vulperium would improve the defenses in any spots it could. The battle was decided to take place on the 12th of March, at 7pm GMT/2pm EST.

Battle of Lazodi
Prior to the time of declaration, both sides began amassing their forces. Atlechia would gather it's coalition forces within Atlechia City, while the Vulperium and allies gathered in Lazodi Center, waiting for the Atlechian army to arrive.

However, it should be noted that two leaders of the Atlechian command, including the king himself, Swenking and mayynophobia were banned, the former being toxicity and the latter being for using a resource pack that highlighted powdered snow over normal snow, allowing them to easily spot the snow trap. Due to these particular rules being so vague, this ban was seen as unfair and biased by many and led to a controversy. The war also had a very low TPS throughout most of the battle.

The Vulperium's main strategy was to concentrate it's forces within the center of Lazodi, as it had more soldiers than Atlechia did, and repel any attack made by Atlechia using it's surperior numbers, especially if Atlechia attempted to place a capture block. If the Vulperium was to split off into smaller groups, they would be a minimum size of 3 or 4 soldiers in order to prevent men from being picked off by skilled Atlechian pvpers. Atlechia planned to sail from the northern seas from an iceberg they were using as their base, and then scale the Lazodi walls. After occupying the Northern side of the walls, they would sweep westward and eastward, placing capture blocks to shrink the Lazodi claim. Once Lazodi's defenses had been weakened, they would move into the inner city, and defeat whatever Vulpur forces remained. A garrison of Simulami soldiers would be stationed at Atlechia City to prepare for any counterattack. During the battle, the Simulami soldiers Hypno_Stick and Inoculant were seen playing a friendly game of chess. At 19:00, the horns of war would sound and almost immediately the arriving Atlechians began scaling the walls of Lazodi, and to their surprise the defenders had left them abandoned. By 19:01 the Atlechians had occupied the entire Northwest wall, and began a push westwards. Simultaneously, they had spotted the Vulpur forces in the city center, and began firing arrows into their midst, trying to pick off or weaken what soldiers they could. The occassional Atlechian would begin a skirmish within the city itself, but would be matched by a group of 3-4 Vulpur soldiers and forced to retreat. The main invading force continued to march westwards along the wall, and the bulk of the Vulperium army would follow. The Hands, led by LilyPrism, would work more independently, and pick off small groups of Atlechians when possible. By 19:02, a large skirmish had culminated along the western wall, as Atlechian soldiers attempted a breakthrough into the city, but was repelled by a larger Vulpur force which had followed their movements. After that attack had failed, a second breakthrough occured at the South-East side of the city, and this was successful. The Atlechians entered into the city and were met by a significant Vulpur group, led by the hands, and were scattered and most were either killed or retreated. More smaller skirmishes would occur as a result of the Atlechians being chased through Lazodi, but the majority of the Atlechian army was beginning to regroup, while the Vulperium maintained it's large grouping. Battles would occur over the walls, but few fights resulted in player deaths, but the death numbers began to pile up for both sides. By this point, the Atlechian army was fighting less and less as a cohesive unit, while the Vulperium kept itself tightly organised, and this allowed for highly effective counterattacks, and even began pushing the Atlechians back over the Lazodi walls into the icy sea below. At 19:07, a large scale battle had resumed on the Northern wall, and the Atlechians were overwhelmed by the Vulperium's huge numbers, and many were slain or became too injured to carry on fighting. This fight would continue until around 19:11, when the remaining Atlechian forces were pushed towards the east of the city, where the snow trap lay. The most notable victim of this would be ErrorL, the God of the Goons. By this point, a couple Atlechians and even Vulpurs had fallen in, but many Atlechians would forget about the trap they had been briefed on, and would run into it unknowingly. Some Atlechians would begin to swim away, but were hunted down and killed, including across the ice sheets of the Lazodi shore. Some Vulpur soldiers would overextend, and be ambushed by a regrouped Atlechian battalion. By 19:15, the fighting had halted in the main city. A few Atlechians would continue to fight in Lazodi itself, but the main push would come at 19:23, when the Atlechians managed to place a capture block on the Lazodi walls, and they rallied to defend it. If Atlechia managed to capture the wall, they would have an opening into the city itself. All available Vulpur forces would travel to the block in an attempt to push out Atlechia from the city once and for all. The Vulperium swarmed the beacon, deploying a strategy of knocking the Atlechians off the wall and onto the ice below, where they began firing arrows onto the walls. At 19:26 the capture point was destroyed by the Vulperium. At the same time, a couple Vulperium soldiers would attempt an attack on Atlechia City, but were unable to get over the city's walls. At 19:29, the Hands would launch an attack on the iceberg base that Atlechia was using to supply their invasion of Lazodi, chasing down Kai8157. At this point, Atlechia had been fully pushed out of Lazodi, but the remaining Atlechians were attempting to pick off lone Vulperium soldiers to increase their point score. The Vulperium would continue to sweep Lazodi and beyond, but the main fight had ended with a successful Vulperium victory, ending in a score of 35-17 in favour of the Vulperium.

Aftermath
Following the decisive Vulperium victory, diplomats immediately began proposing peace terms, but all would be swiftly rejected by Swenking, who still believed that an Atlechian victory would still occur. Unbeknownst to him, many of his mercenaries and allies would abandon his cause and remove all presence they had within the Atlechian military. For a time it was unknown who these allies were, but a map of Atlechia's victory would be discovered by a Vulperium spy, giving a full list of allied nations as well as their territorial claims. Both sides began delliberating on the site of the next battle, but Atlechia would proceed to war dodge for the next week. In the meantime, more rebellions would occur within them. Aima Percivia would claim even more lands, and the Jarldoms of Agoge, Kernland and Fjallbjorn would all declare independence, met with a harsh reaction by Swenking. Atlechia began raiding it's former territories, namely Aima Percivia. In one massive raid, Aima would be defended by knights from The Pale, which, despite being outnumbered by the Atlechian party, would massacre their forces. In this battle, Swenking would be killed upon his horse, his body taken back to Atlechia. His son, Prince Block_Summoner, would assume the Atlechian throne, and began to pursue peace talks.

At the forefront of these talks would be Mega Kericos and Wambold Zevedeos of Ahalia, who demanded incredibly harsh terms from Atlechia, which would result in them 3/4ths of their lands to the Vulperium and independent states. This was promptly rejected by Block_Summoner, who refused to negotiate further with the Ahalians, so the Vulperium assumed full control over diplomacy. It seemed like a peace talk would be reached, until Atlechia would announce it's entry into the Federal Union of Aristios-Zamotz as a province, which would greatly annoy the diplomats and further complicate the situation.

A notable part of these talks was the Fort of Bloodmoon, which was the site of a joint operation between Swenking and Rico of the DVR, or Dandelion Empire. Rico wanted to take the fort back, as he used to have ownership of it, but Block refused. Rico would return to the talks with an official declaration of war against Atlechia from the Dandelion Empire and it's allies, unless Atlechia returned the fort.

Once a deal had been reached and both parties signed, with the approval of the Aristios-Zamotz senate, Block_Summoner would immediately abdicate and assume the control of the throne to his son, Skorpa Atlag (Swenking), who was a fanatic of his grandfather, and greatly admired him. He would declare independence from Aristios-Zamotz, showing that he was just using them to war dodge, nullifying the signed treaty, and would then unite with the Kingdom of Duruk Kunar, under Tylics.

This would once again complicated the negotiations which had once again restarted. A meeting would begin between Tylics, Moyye, Logui, Wambold and Percy over what was to do with the Atlechian lands. Tylics would establish that he was onboard with peace talks and disregarded Atlechia's new intentions to war dodge further. After many hours of negotiating, a set border would be established and the lands of Atlechia would be divided between the belligerent nations. The lands of Sol had previously seceded from Atlechia and rejoined Aristios-Zamotz, despite it being an active warzone, but these claims would be recognised by the other parties. The Duchy of Ahalia, under Vulperium, would annex all of the Pentamorean territories of Atlechia, while Duruk Kunar would annex other islands and mainland Atlechia. Following the treaty the Atlechian people would reject the treaty and declare the Republic of Holgerborg, otherthrowing Swen and forming a revolution in an attempt to rid Duruk Kunar from their lands. They would vacate the lands claimed by Vulperium and Aristios, and would fight a war against Tylics for control of their mainland, and would eventually buy it back from him.

Neubaykonia, a province within the Aristios-Zamotz, and bordering the Holgerborg region of Atlechia, announced that any citizens of Atlechia are welcome to join Neubaykonia as either dual, or mono citizens. Atlechia used to be a town within past Neubaykonian claims, before separating. However despite their differences, the King of Neubaykonia, Biglrab and the Pm, Hubertus De Honse, agreed that it would be a show of good will to give protection to those affected by the conflicts.

After the war, the Vulperium would join the Onthukhan Pact as a sign of solidarity with it's allies who fought with it.