Phoenix Crisis

On the 8th of September, 2021, the Republic of South Phoenia announced its annexation of the Holy Kingdom of Lutum, triggering a major political and diplomatic crisis that would drastically alter the political landscape of the Phoenix region of Eldham.

Prelude
Initially formed out of a secession from the Republic of South Phoenia, the Holy Kingdom of Lutum (sometimes referred to as North Phoenia) had enjoyed positive relations with the South for much of its history, securing a defensive pact between the two nations.

The Road to Annexation
On the first days of September, however, ties between the two countries rapidly deteriorated. The South Phoenian city of Klatch, located on the border, had slightly expanded its claims into Lutum territory to protect a bridge that crosses the border. Although this may have been viewed as a minor transgression, Klatch's proximity to the capital of Lutum, Lutumshire, heightened concerns that the city was expanding its claims closer to the capital. In response, Lutum demanded that Klatch reduce their claims back into the Phoenian border, whilst simultaneously constructing a new settlement that straddled the border.

The South Phoenian Senate viewed this in a negative light, and on September 6th voted unanimously to take action against Lutum's actions, though the proposal was vague in its response. Calls for war, spearheaded by then Vice Chancellor Abbejohn and Senator Innos, who mayored and represented Klatch, began to echo across the Senate. On the very next day, the Senate voted in a 5-3 split in favor of terminating its alliance with Lutum, and war appeared to be on the horizon. It is worth noting that some government officials, including the High Chancellor at the time (Raiempire) opposed the country's path to war, but ultimately were in the minority.

In the North, the situation only worsened. The city of Lutumshire experienced a financial collapse as its reserves went dry, and bandits began to plunder the city. The Phoenian Senate interpreted this as a collapse of the Northern government, and on September 8th, publicly announced their annexation of Lutum.

The Crisis
The Phoenian announcement was met with widespread international backlash. Starting with the Andlirian Empire to the east, countries from across the region began to denounce Phoenia for their actions, with many of the bordering nations considering a response to their aggression. Given that Phoenia already had a history of causing regional instability, calls began to echo for the dissolution of Phoenia to pacify Phoenix.

The Phoenix Council
Following denouncements of the Phoenian government by the Andlirian Empire and the Zamotz Union region of Razuni, both countries and the Lutum government in exile met at an undisclosed location in Phoenix, forming the Phoenix Council. The objective of the Council was initially to find a solution to restore Lutum's sovereignty and create a long-lasting peace across the region, but the topic quickly shifted toward a partition of the country entirely. There were few alternatives proposed, all of which seemed to rely on maintaining high confidence in the Phoenian government to stabilize; confidence that nobody in the conference had.

Although the idea of a partition was accepted by both Lutum and Andliria, as well as the Zamotian delegates present, it struggled to gain traction in the Union's legislature. Complaints about the partition, ranging from Andliria's massive overstepping in territorial gains despite Zamotz being the senior member of the council, to opposition against claiming any land in Phoenia at all, meant that no vote was held on the matter for the time the Phoenix Council remained active.

Swamp
The town of Swamp, located on the rural south-east part of Phoenia, had already gained considerable contempt for the government. Taxes being levied on the town were met with widespread backlash, and while taxpaying was avoided with little punishment, the town's residents still grew attracted to the growing notion of secession. Poriis, a resident of the town and prominent advocate for secession, turned to the Zamotz Union to request that Swamp be integrated into the Union. Given that the Union had no taxes and provided considerable protection, it quickly became the ally Swamp sought to gain.

The Zamotz Union began to support the town diplomatically, and scaled back its prominence in the Phoenix Council. Andliria, sensing that the Union was working behind the scenes, chose to act on its own.

Tensions Rise
The Phoenix Council died shortly after Andliria and Zamotz ceased cooperation. Lutum was left in the middle, as both countries sought to gain its support. The Zamotz Union offered Lutum a chance to join the Union, settle its disputes with Klatch, and receive sufficient economic aid to recover from the bandit raids on their country and to develop new settlements elsewhere. Andliria, on the other hand, offered an alliance that would offer mutual protection against Phoenia and Zamotz, two countries that were seen in an aggressive light.

Though it was not aware of the Phoenix Council nor the developments in Swamp, the Phoenian government had conceded to the international pressure that had built up on it. Both the incumbent king, LoMany, and the High Chancellor, Raiempire, resigned and fled the country. On September 11th, Abbejohn (the new High Chancellor) declared that Phoenia would be withdrawing entirely from Lutum, and grant the country its independence once more. Though done in good faith and with the intent of de-escalating tensions, the damage had already been done; Abbejohn's approval regionally, already low from his past work as a diplomat and Vice Chancellor, would only work against him and the Phoenian government at large.

Republic of Rapture
A major cause of tensions in the region in the past would be Astapf, a Senator and radical figure who was already convicted of sparking an attempted coup d'etat against the Phoenian government over a referendum to join the Zamotz Union roughly one month before the Phoenix crisis' start. As the mayor of Rapture, however, his attitude toward foreign governments had completely shifted; he sought nothing less than the independence of Rapture from Phoenia, with the assistance of other countries. The only major country to commit any support would be the Ashtrokan-Wandenreich Empire, a country that bordered Phoenia to the south-west but had remained largely quiet on the matter until this point. Seeing an opportunity, Archeon, the minister of foreign affairs for the AWE, sought to increase their presence by gaining Rapture's loyalty and backing their insurrection.

Although the Zamotz Union initially remained undecided on the matter of supporting or opposing Rapture as it had been vouched for by several other Zamotian allies in Phoenia, the matter quickly shifted to one of urgency as Rapture declared its independence and claimed the neighboring town of Portavel. Portavel, tied with Soliana in being the most populated city in Phoenia, was at this point a crucial loyalist settlement that would not submit to Rapture. Brief and largely bloodless skirmishes between the two towns commenced, and the conflict remained inconclusive.

Lutum's Decision
Following a meeting with Andliria in which delegates from Skjoldrbrodir were present, the Holy Empire of Lutum had become highly skeptical of the Zamotz Union. Although the king of Lutum expressed high support for the Union's proposal to integrate itself as a province, this was most likely out of a lack of options and pressure from a major power rather than a genuine sign of support.

The AWE, despite being closely allied with the Zamotz Union, had little communication with them up until this point; both sides were unaware of the extent of the other's involvement in the crisis. Archeon reached out to Lutum and offered the country to become a protectorate of the AWE, a deal they quickly accepted. This not only ended communications between Lutum and the Zamotz Union, it also derailed a proposal to compromise with the town of Klatch and end the Phoenia-Lutum border dispute. Although the compromise was viewed by Lutum as a disfavorable one (as it involved ceding their capital in exchange for support to construct a new one farther away from Klatch), the AWE's intervention here ultimately served only to prolong the crisis and worsen ties between themselves and the Zamotz Union.

Troops from the AWE would also be spotted in the area. During a visit to Klatch, High Chancellor Abbejohn would be critically injured by an AWE soldier in the disputed region; the AWE government would go on to state that the soldier was acting independently. Several other violent deaths were reported in the area, including two dead corpses in a cave system on the disputed territory.

Triple Entente in Crisis
This moment had become the lowest point ever in relations between the AWE and Zamotz Union, and legislators on the Union's side began discussing a dissolution of the Triple Entente (the alliance between AWE, Zamotz, and Aristios) due to the AWE's disregard of the alliance. Although communication was low, Archeon had been notified by the Zamotz Union to not interfere in ongoing negotiations the day prior to integrating Lutum as a protectorate. To the Union, it felt as though the AWE betrayed them for territorial gain.

The Empire of Aristios attempted to salvage the alliance, with a meeting organized to lessen tensions and to decide on a compromise in the region. In the end, Archeon was fired from his position as minister of foreign affairs, and the AWE would retract its support for Rapture's independence; on the other hand, Lutum would be allowed to retain all of its territory and its borders with Phoenia would revert back to how they were before the border crisis started. Klatch would be forced to demolish any of its architecture on Lutum's side of the border, and scale back its town claims wholly to the Phoenian side. Although the Triple Entente was saved, it left a lasting impression on some Zamotian legislators that the AWE was not truly an ally of Zamotz.

Resolution to Rapture
Although Rapture's campaigns were met with very little success, the threat they posed to regional stability was unquestionable. The deaths of civilians and assassination attempts on politicians at the hands of Rapture's militia would attract the attention of the Zamotz Union, who sought to defuse the situation. A deal was offered to Astapf - if his group were to exit the Phoenix region entirely, King Okomi I would finance $20,000 and any additional money needed to resettle his peoples to begin a new life elsewhere. Although Astapf was hesitant, a raid on Rapture would force him to accept. Hired mercenaries that out-equipped and out-trained the militia would decisively crush them at their own territory, and the defeat proved to Rapture that their odds of winning a war were practically impossible. Astapf chose to relocate to a mountainous region in the AWE, creating a new settlement under the name "Ironton." Despite the militia making occasional returns to Phoenix, their presence had finally begun to erode, and signs of stability began to show.

Opposition to Soliana
The Phoenian government, however, had seen little improvement since granting Lutum its independence. Following the Zamotz Union's support in the Lutum dispute, the city of Klatch had joined Swamp in its desire to integrate into the Union, and with the town of Ampolo following Klatch's decision, it left half of the settlements in east Phoenia in support of joining Zamotz. LoMany's successor to the throne, Rage O' Fire, had separately discussed with the Zamotz Union and ultimately chose to support Union integration as well, bringing the de-jure Phoenian capital of Dol Guldur to the list of backers. Between Klatch, Swamp, and DolGuldur, a new opposition government began to form.

With DolGuldur's switch of affiliations, the Phoenian government was left with three potential strongholds:


 * Soliana, the de-facto capital of Phoenia given that the overwhelming majority of Phoenian loyalists and loyalist politicians lived here
 * Portavel, a large settlement in east Phoenia that had remained largely quiet on the crisis but was increasingly becoming discontent with the Phoenian government
 * Rapture, a town that was now disputed between two mayors

Immediately after Astapf's evacuation of Rapture, a Portavellian citizen, Brian Hutch, declared the settlement his, and under a part of Portavel's government. This claim would be disputed by the former king, LoMany, who had financed Rapture's growth and claimed to have paid roughly 67,000 out of his own pocket to create the settlement as the future capital of Phoenia. The royalists at DolGuldur would argue for LoMany, whilst Portavel persisted on keeping the settlement. Ultimately, LoMany would relinquish his claim to Rapture, and Portavel kept the settlement.

The Split
On September 18th, following days of failed negotiations with the Soliana government in the hopes of reaching a peaceful outcome, the mayor and Senator of Swamp, mEEm, declared the Phoenian opposition government (known as the Phoenian Independents, or the DolGuldur government) separate to the Soliana government, as well as declaring themselves the legitimate government of Phoenia. At this point, Soliana was hardly in a position to combat the split, but Abbejohn insisted on fighting. He asserted that, combined, Soliana and Portavel outnumber the entirety of the Phoenian Independents' population, and thus had a stronger claim to be the legitimate Phoenian government.

Secession of Portavel
The day after the Phoenian Independents seceded, Portavel, alongside the city of Rapture, declared itself independent from both the Soliana and DolGuldur governments, joining the Zamotz Union as an entirely separate province. Days of failed negotiations with the DolGuldur government and tensions between them had caused too large of a rift to mend. With the Zamotz Union and much of the Phoenian Independents backing Portavel's separation, Phoenia was forced to accept the loss.

Without Portavel, the city of Soliana was left alone and in a position where it could not reasonably continue claiming over any Phoenian settlement. It would eventually formally secede from Phoenia as its own independent country, with the support of the Phoenian Independents. Abbejohn continued as the High Chancellor of Soliana, whilst Raiempire returned to his other duties of being a major religious figure, mayor of Soliana itself, and a notable politician.