War of the Red Sands

Overview
The War of the Red Sands was a war between the Yimmu-Audal and the Theiviocracy of Charm. Charm was the belligerent nation, attacking Yimmu-Audal. There were multiple events that led up to the war being declared, both of a political and religious nature. This war was part of several expansionist wars conducted by Charm at the time.

One of the main driving factors of the war was animosity felt by V0idF1sh (henceforth 'v0id'), the Charm's Hand of the State and Tsiuch of Deadwood Azuria, against Yimmu-Audal and several of its leaders. While there were many facets to the war and the political intrigue it entailed, the ultimate root was a desire for v0id to 'punish' Yimmu-Audal for what he perceived as prior transgressions against either himself or his community in Azuria.

The war resulted in the Treaty of Red Sands, a broad victory for Charm but not without concession. Yimmu-Audal was unable to match Charm militarily, but a lack of longevity in Charm's political and diplomatic strategy bottlenecked their ability to consolidate a victory. Several of the lands conquered by Charm soon fell away from their control, either being purchased by other nations or leaving on their own accord. None of v0id's personal grievances were resolved; he failed to depose or exile those within the Audalad Court who he felt had wronged him, the Red Cult remained divided, Yimmu-Audal was not subjugated, and his status of Dejir was not revoked.

Prelude to War
Tensions between Yimmu-Audal and Charm had existed for some time, while a Non-Aggression Pact had been signed long prior by Emperor Beagle, the two nations had become largely apathetic to one another; at best they paid little mind to each other, at worst they glared over borders and squabbled over small disputes.

V0idF1sh as Dajir and his prior Defeat
Central to the rivalry felt by v0id between himself and Yimmu-Audal was his fate following the the Neo-Carnian Revolution. At the outset of the conflict, v0id declared war on Yimmu-Audal alongside the various other supporters of the rebellion. The result of the rebellion was a decisive victory for Yimmu-Audal; Carn was reintegrated into the Empire along with Sironia, with v0id declared to be 'Dejir' (a denouncement of character and stripping of association and titles) by Yimmu-Audal and forbidden from ever holding political office in Carn.

This defeat had a lasting affect on v0id, who would long for revenge long after the conflict ended. There was also another factor to the war involving the Red Cult, which has been given its own section.

Azuria
Around the end of June 2023, the Archduchy of Azuria was temporarily vassalized by Yimmu-Audal for a period of 3 months, as per the Treaty of Frozen Sands. During this time, they would enjoy Yimmu-Audal's protection and representation in the Audalad Court, as well as the Noble Council. Upon the agreed date within the Treaty (September 27th, 2023), Azuria would be granted a week to decide to either remain with Yimmu-Audal permanently or secede to become independent. However, shortly after this Treaty was signed (around July 31st), regions of Azuria began to secede to instead join the nearby Theivocracy of Charm. While these decisions were publicly announced to be without malice, they did effectively partition what was once Azuria between Yimmu-Audal and Charm. This was cited by v0idfish as a major transgression, with the then Emperor of Yimmu-Audal, Cassiath II Potentia, being accused of deliberately preventing a unified Azuria.

While the exact intentions of both Cassiath II and v0id have not been confirmed publicly, both are thought to have had their own vested interest in the region; Cass made no secrets about his hope for Azuria to become a permanent part of Yimmu-Audal (although he confirmed that he would never have forced this) whilst Charm made no secret that their ambition was to unify Azuria under their rule. In early August (11th) Cassiath II announced that Yimmu-Audal would commence a diplomatic mission with Charm to better their relations, but the authenticity of v0id and Cassiath II's agreement with one another has never been confirmed. Before the 3 months allocated to Azuria's time in Yimmu-Audal could transpire, it collapsed entirely with the breakaway states all joining Charm.

Political Intrigue and Border Disputes
Within Yimmu-Audal's capital province, Audal, tension was bubbling between leading political figures. Ratt, the Count of Urnu-Arrak and Toren, V0idF1sh's Father-In-Law, were at loggerheads over the concept of a 'Patron's Day', marking Toren's return of Urnu-Arrak to Yimmu-Audal after it was conquered by Yestanbul (as per the Treaty of Unru-Arrak of 553. Ratt was opposed to the idea of Patron celebrations over the day, for reasons that have never been made publicly clear-but personal animosity between he and Toren is assumed. Regardless, v0id cited this argument as another reason for his spite against Yimmu-Audal. Later,  _Voido_ (henceforth, Voido), the ruler of the Duchy of Audal, expanded the Duchy's territory over land which was claimed by Charm. As part of his expansion, he removed a historical building for which v0id held great affinity for. Voido was confronted by v0id and told that war had been declared upon the expanded territory of Audal. On warning of war and after several threats from v0id, Voido agreed to retreat and give back the land.

Mounting Hostility, and rumours of the Red Cult
The several disputes mentioned thus far contributed to a rapid breakdown in relations between Yimmu-Audal and Charm. Statesmen of either side became more belligerent to one another, avoiding an open call for war but broadly dismissing any notions of friendship or non-aggression between the two states.

Whilst all of the political intrigue continued, a more elusive and shadowy front of the situation developed; the rumoured involvement of the Red Cult. The Red Cult had been split ever since v0id had been declared Dejir. From the perspective of v0id, his dissenting branch of the Red Cult could benefit in two ways form the war; the great loss of life as a result of war would please his God, and the subjugation of Yimmu-Audal would allow him to undo the shame of his Dejir status and make his own branch of the Red Cult the 'official' branch, unifying the followers of the Red Cult under his beliefs.

War Declared
All of the above factors came to a head with v0id declaring Charm's declaration of war on Yimmu-Audal on September 7th, 2023. More specifically, v0id stated that Yimmu-Audal had a choice; hand over 5 major cities along the southern coast of Audal, or face war-but it appeared that they were confident the latter choice would be chosen. Thus, war began.

Battles
The war consisted of 3 major battles and multiple skirmishes. The battle of Sukrath, the battle First battle of Rhodia, and the Second battle of Rhodia.

Sukrath
The battle of Sukrath occurred on September 23 2023. It was led by the Hands mercenary group vs. the Yimmu-Audal patriots. The battle came as a surprise; Sukrath was not a desired city for conquering by Charm by their own admission. It was instead targeted by The Hands, a group of mercenaries that had sought the land for some time; with external pressure pushing the mercenaries toward disbandment, they decided to support Charm as a last hurrah. Yimmu Audal at the time was protected by a great shield that their mages put up in response to the declaration of war, however the disputed nature of Sukrath left it outside of the shield's protection. Preferring to save their resources for a confrontation with Charm-rather than a mercenary group which was about to disband regardless of the battle's outcome-the decision was made to only dispatch a small force to confront The Hands.

The result was a decisive victory for The Hands, as the small Yimmu-Audal garrison proved no match for the highly skilled and well equipped mercenaries. With the city in their control, they passed it on to Reddoons-a popular commander supporting Charm-who founded the Duchy of Crimson Den.

First Battle of Rhodia
From the momentum of conquering Sukrath, now known as the Crimson Den, an attack was launched upon Rhodia by Charm. There were many who hoped for a swift victory based on the poor military organisation of Yimmu-Audal in the previous battle, but Yimmu-Audal had saved its resources and planned to dig in deep.

The result of the First Battle of Rhodia was a draw, and can thus be considered a technical win for the defenders; Charm was prevented from conquering Rhodia, however it would be remiss not to note that Yimmu-Audal suffered far more casualties than Charm and were incapable of forcibly pushing their forces out of the area-a stalemate.

Footage of the battle can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lumf5gq8CcY

Second Battle of Rhodia
A second attack was launched upon Rhodia from the Crimson Den, and this time the Yimmu-Audal defences buckled. With their resources near exhausted and their soldiers weary of the chances of victory, troops and mercenaries under the command of Charm swarmed over the defences and successfully seized the town. Rhodia had fallen to Charm.

This battle was led by V0idF1sh with a new team commander Foczo of Kartek. They won a decisive victory.

Peace Negotiations and the End of the War
The war had become one of attrition; it was clear that Yimmu-Audal were unwilling to surrender, but equally that Charm (or, at least, v0id) were unwilling to cease their invasion. With an immovable Audalad Court, united in opposition to any punitive peace accord, negotiations tentatively began between the two parties to explore any option for peace. The initial demands by Charm involved the annexation of two peninsulas in southern Audal, as well as several diplomatic or political demands; the restoration of prestige to the disgraced Azurian-Charm branch of the Audalad Dynasty, a formal apology for prior transgressions against Azuria by Yimmu-Audal, a payment of 12,000,000 from Yimmu-Audal to Charm, and the handing over of several artifacts to v0dfish personally.

As negotiations continued, the demands shifted constantly; based on the general atmosphere of the talks, Charm's demands would range from those of a pragmatic imperialist to an enraged conqueror; individuals who v0idfish was opposed to were demanded to be deposed or exiled, Yimmu-Audal as a whole was demanded to be vassalized by Charm, and v0idfish demanded high-ranking offices for himself within the Empire. These demands were added with a warning that refusal would mean an invasion of Urnu-Arrak, the capital.

The more punitive demands-in particular the demands that individual members of the Audalad Court with whom v0idfish had grievance with-lead to an outright rejection of these demands, and it appeared that the war was to continue indefinitely. However, as many on either side appeared to be growing weary with the constant fighting, renewed negotiations were held at the High Tower in Grogonia where a new new Treaty was signed; the titular Treaty of the Red Sands.

The terms of the Treaty were a loose compromise of negotiations thus far; Yimmu-Audal would concede the lands in Audal conquered thus far, however Rhodia would be returned to Yimmu-Audal for a monetary sum, and the two nations would apologise to one another for various transgressions. Lastly, Yimmu-Audal would revoke its claims to any Azurian land.