Battle of the Blue Moon

The Battle of the Blue Moon was the second major engagement of the Second Relic War, in which Huitcan forces ambushed Solisian forces, killing more than half of them.

Background
On 13 November, 2021, the Huitca Federation launched a parade to celebrate their victory in the Relic War months earlier. The Swords of the Eclipse, a Luxite fighter group (mostly composed of Solisians) learned of the planned parade route, and took cover in the mountains surrounding the parade route. The Eclipse left a Solisian citizen, Its_SmellsFishy, to pretend to be injured along the parade route, hoping to serve as a distraction. However, the Huitcans promptly ignored the citizen's faux cries for help. Upon seeing this distraction being ignored, the Solisians jumped down from the mountains and attacked the the paraders. After a lengthy chase in which one player from each side was killed, Artonus was killed along the southern outskirts of Ataraxia.

Immediately after his death, Artonus's guards killed three Solisians, in addition to killing one of their own who was caught in the crossfire. In the end, both sides suffered three fatalities. One hour after the assassination took place, Crown Princess LilyPrism issued a statement regarding the event, issuing a declaration of war against Solisios.

The first major engagement of the Second Relic War, the Battle of Borktress, began at approximately 21:00 UTC when a Solisian war ship, the SNV Tenebris, arrived at the shores of Borktress. Solisian troops climbed down from the ship and used boats or swam to the beach of Borktress. Solisian soldiers were met with heavy bow fire, but quickly overwhelmed the Huitcan soldiers guarding the west tower, capturing it.

Solisian soldiers then began the costliest phase of the battle by attacking the fortress itself. Due to the heavy casualties being sustained, they became disorganized, but eventually regrouped and captured the fortress. The remaining defenders were killed either making a last stand or attempting to retreat. Only approximately half of the defenders were able to successfully withdraw from the fortress. The battle shockingly ended in a Solisian victory after only around 30 minutes of fighting.

After the major success of the Battle of Borktress, Solisian forces began conducting offensive operations deep into the Huitcan mainland, especially attacking farmlands in order to starve them out.

Prelude
Little is known about Huitcan preparations before the battle, but Solisios, while at Borktress, prepared for the long march by splitting its army into four units. They also armed their forces with potions and gear incase of any attack. After organizing its army, Solisios began marching to Elanfeldt via use of a dilapidated road. Huitca, knowing that the Solisians would be marching that day, predicted that they would take this road. Huitcan forces then waited for their arrival as they camped out on the bridge that the aforementioned route would pass through.

The Battle
At about 16:30 UTC, the Solisians finished organizing their forces and began marching. After only five minutes, however, they were unexpectedly met by heavily armed Huitcan forces who opened their attack by barraging them with arrows. Solisian forces became extremely unorganized, leading to many attemping to flee, only to be picked off. Of around 20 Solisian soldiers, only eight survived, with just seven of them actually making it to Elkanfeldt. A couple of survivors would attempt to go back to search and rescue any of their own who were left behind, but to no avail.

Aftermath
The attack was a major blow to Solisian morale. The surviving Solisians would go on to leave the city in order to group up with other Solisian units so that they could better hold on to it, knowing they wouldn't be able to survive if the Huitcans attempted to recapture it.

War crimes (ooc)
The Battle of the Blue Moon was infamous for the unusually high number of war crimes commited. One of the most notable of these was when Jamesspyro, a Huitcan soldier, executed the Shah of Solisios, Beast_Killertje, after he surrendered after heavy fighting in a ravine.

Beast_killertje, after respawning, went to the major Huitcan city of Alaar and killed several unarmed civilians, then proceeding to flee before he could be caught.

peter5885, who was one of the two Solisians to go back to look for more survivors, was briefly captured by Huitcan forces and was called a smurf non-stop by his captors. He was then released and proceeded to return to Elkanfeldt.