Red Sun Campaign

The Red Sun Campaign, also known as the Quacomar Conflict and Josbar's War, was a declared war between the Aurlûnor Velande and its allies against the forces of one Josbar Liberium of Volkoregrod. The conflict itself, while seeing zero bloodshed, was highly consequential with regards to international diplomacy and Aurlûnor's internal functioning.

Background
Full Article: Aurlûnoren-Ryzani Border Dispute

The Aurlûnor Velande had long had border disputes with Ryzan, its neighbor. Though largely solved in previous years, the continued Aurlûnoren presence at Duck Island angered many, and a number of people within Ryzani society had political qualms with the Aurlûnor Velande. Being a monarchy ruled by the same person more or less for nearly a millennium, irredentists among the more liberal-republican Ryzani sought to gain back Ryzani territory from long ago and enforce a change of government.

Many within the government of the Soleannan Imperium also drew ire from the continued presence of Velereth Sareariel I as the head of the Twin Dragon religion and the Aurlûnoren state, and some Bardonian imperials felt that Aurlûnor as a nation had 'betrayed' Bardonia prior to it joining the Imperium. Crezyman, in particular, had been waiting for the opportune time to simply attack Aurlûnor due to not having a previous chance to before.

Previous talks with Aurlûnor and Ryzan's leaderships put forth a plan wherein a false flag invasion would result in Aurlûnor coming under Ryzani control for protection from the Imperium; however, at the time, there was inconclusive evidence of a direct imperial ambition on Aurlûnor, and the plan was discarded by all except Josbar Liberium, who was one of the Ryzani representatives in the council. Josbar felt cheated and betrayed by both his own country and Aurlûnor.

Talks between Josbar and Emperor Yazov of the Irastlien Soleannen eventually resolved that Josbar would be given a blank check to do as he pleased with Aurlûnor's territory in the event of him conquering it, so long as particular goals were achieved. It is unknown to the public what Yazov's exact plans were, but it is thought that the subjugation of the Twin Dragon religion and Aurlûnor as a state were central to the plan.

Beginning of the Affair
In the summer of 546 AJC (952 ACA), Josbar announced to the world his ambitions to wage a war in Aurlûnor. He would leave from the port of Volkoregrod across the Gulf of Ryzan to land in the city of Quacomar on Aurlûnor's northeastern coast.

The war, was at first welcomed by Aurlûnoren leadership, who despite being surprised had already been looking for a fair fight wherein the Dragon Army's true combat capabilities could be tested. The official Aurlûnoren response to the declaration of war called for the mustering of Aurlûnoren, Ashuran, and Aldan troops, fearing that summoning the entire Northern Star Coalition would escalate the war too far. The affair lacked toxicity on its initiation, and while preparations were made and the country ordered to mobilize for war, few panicked. Little did they know of the scale the conflict would reach in the coming days.

Intel came into the Aurlûnoren Imperial Court that Josbar had started to hire mercenaries, and was not simply using a band of Ryzani volunteers to complete his attack. Knowing that the combat capabilities of hired mercenary groups outmatched both those of Josbar's volunteers and all but a few of their own warriors, Aurlûnor outbid the mercenaries that Josbar hired to encourage them to switch to the defenders' side. They followed the money, greatly outraging Josbar. This caused him to reach out to the Imperium's leadership, and ask for help from them while assembling different mercenaries as well.

Escalation
Aurlûnoren leadership went into shock after discovering that within the Imperium's military communications, Crezyman had announced a call-to-arms asking for volunteers for Josbar's side. It is here that Crezyman announced that he simply wanted to beat up the Aurlûnoren for fun, though apologizing to Chancellor Mao Meili upon her confrontation, and while Crezy tried to demonstrate that it was not official Imperium policy, the fact that it was posted in an important channel by one of the nation's leaders concerned several within Aurlûnor.

At this point, even some local leaders within Aurlûnor were showing signs of defeatism and paranoia; in particular the city of Shenhua's people feared that this war would destroy their homes, hard work, and legacy. Aurlûnor began to take account of its gear, and called for volunteers to buy war bonds from the government to purchase mercenaries and gear.

Being explicitly targeted by Josbar's forces and facing the threat of the Imperium's soldiers coming at Aurlûnor, Sareariel Lelya-Earcala did what was thought to be impossible and officially resigned from her post as Velereth. Appointing her chancellor as a regent to fill her missing post and handle the country and crisis, she left for Haven intending not to return, but still uphold the Twin Dragon faith. A massive amount of trust was placed in the hands of Chancellor Meili, who hoped that with Sareariel finally deposed, one of their attackers' goals had been completed and thus diplomatic talks could resume, to de-escalate or even avoid an actual conflict. Many hoped that the Chancellor's judgement would be much better under pressure than the now-former Velereth's, and that since her reputation was less soured in the international community, she could gain more support. It was at this point that international discussion began to break down, and the whole of the NSC summoned for war.

Internal affairs within the Ryvenate of Ryzan began to break down. If Aurlûnor fell to an Imperium ally, Ryzan would be surrounded and itself a target for the Imperium's army. Furthermore, Josbar himself was the leader of the Freehold of Remtal within the Ryzani government and even crown prince of the Ryvenate Peterhoff Shan-Khamen had announced support for the invasion. He was also supported by the garrison of several military installations within the province and some of the leadership of Volkoregrod. As legal charges were levied by Slout against Josbar for using government funds for the invasion, a trial was organized against him. Still, tensions brewed within Ryzan and many feared a civil war would break out, as the Tsarina was in full support of Aurlûnor and against Josbar's plans.

Threat of Genocide
As talks with Josbar resumed under the Chancellor instead of the Velereth, Josbar attempted to use scare tactics upon Chancellor Meili to scare her and the other Aurlûnoren leaders into submission. Knowing that Josbar was not above using shady tactics (harkening back to his actions in the War in Ryzan, and heeding intel that Josbar was actually running out of money to wage war in the first place), and had been short-sighted in the past, she held strong and tried to call his bluff where she could.

He attempted to downplay Aurlûnor's strength whilst hiding his own during the talks, refusing to disclose much other than some of his goals. These statements would be largely denounced afterwards by Josbar, but in announcing that he could "guarantee Aurlûnoren Humans", he stated that his goals were not only to conquer the land of Aurlûnor, but also the subjugation of the Lhûren, the removal of many current town leaders, and to commit "cultural genocide" upon Aurlûnor's population. This apparent admission of guilt was then placed upon Emperor Yazov, in an attempt to throw off the guilt and place it upon his superiors, whereas in actuality the Imperium had little to no official influence in these plans besides volunteer military support.

This information, regardless of veracity, was damning enough to the Aurlûnoren leadership, and later that same day Chancellor Meili leaked these documents to the world stage, accusing the Soleannan Imperium of plotting genocide against her people and using Josbar as a proxy. This riled up international discussion even more, as public talks between Aurlûnoren and Soleannan citizens quickly broke down into toxicity and argument. Still, whilst efforts to calm everyone went into effect, it changed public outlook on the conflict greatly. Many on Josbar's side refused to fight in support of a potential genocide, and backed out as many more volunteers pledged support for Aurlûnor in the crisis.

Preparation for Battle
As the date of the invasion drew closer, preparations were made to fortify the city of Quacomar. Walls were built, bamboo and berry bush rows were planted, trenches dug, and several traps were constructed. Seeing the disarray that the inexperienced Aurlûnoren military was in, mercenary leader Howertt took charge in organizing the defense of the city, helping to draw up and construct defenses. While many within Aurlûnor initially had unfavorable opinions on Howertt due to previous conflicts, believing he would betray them, his skill and dedication to protecting Quacomar and organizing the war effort demonstrated that he could be trusted, and his actions helped immensely. Other preparations, such as the construction of secondary and tertiary barracks at Nekomar and the Nantian Monastery were made.

Seeing that Aurlûnor was under potential threat by the Imperium, many non-combatants pledged support in favor of Aurlûnor. The Kingdom of Aurora, heeding the Pact of Lhûmar, manufactured and donated several sets of armor and weapons to the NSC. Many more volunteers showed up to fight. The retired leader and philanthropist Jacob Azurov even reached out to Chancellor Meili and donated a whopping $2,000,000 grant to help pay off debt and hire more mercenaries, with which the BMW (Based Marauders of Western-Sparwood) and a group of Tortugan pirates were recruited. Talks were put in to hire the Osterium Pirates as well with promises of large quantities of alcohol; it is unknown if they were officially recruited.

Conclusion and Consequences
As tensions were at their peak, the Soleannan Imperium was forced to make an announcement. Cardinal Moz, acting on behalf of the Imperium, issued a statement to clarify several occurrences:


 * A general denouncement of the toxicity, rumor, and lies that fueled the affair;
 * While Yazov does not hold favorable views towards Aurlûnor, neither he nor the Imperium were the driving force behind the war. It was primarily Josbar's war goal, and the Imperium saw it as an unimportant affair;
 * Josbar violated the original terms of the war;
 * While it appeared that the war was being used as an Imperium proxy war, the truth was that it was only upon Crezyman's initiative that the announcement to join Josbar's forces was posted in the Imperial Army's announcements;
 * Josbar blamed the most egregious parts of his plans upon Yazov and the Imperium, claiming that he only was enacting these things to avoid an Imperial invasion of his home country of Ryzan;
 * A denouncement of the Aurlûnoren panic and the insults levied at Imperial citizens accusing them of supporting genocide, whilst leaking old documents implicating that the NSC planned to forcibly and permanently dissolve Bardonia in the past;
 * A general statement that the Imperium had no further goals of expansion and that the leadership did not care for ownership of Aurlûnor's land.

These announcements helped to calm the situation down significantly, despite simultaneously denouncing both sides for their severe wrongdoings.

The night before the planned battle drew in, yet Josbar's forces were either withdrawing, infighting, or both. As eventually even Peterhoff Shan-Khamen pulled out of the conflict and even his hopeful backers in the Imperium had denounced him, Josbar surrendered to the NSC. Aurlûnor and its allies celebrated as their enemy had folded.

The conflict's long-term effects were nonetheless drastic. It forced Aurlûnor into a regency, and without a Velereth a new order came into play in Aurlûnor's government, headed now by the Chancellor- the birth of the Chancellorate era. From here, several reforms were announced and the state internally restructured, and diplomatically Aurlûnor began to realign itself. An address from Meili herself included a formal apology to the Imperium for their misunderstandings, and began to mend relations with the Imperium. Josbar's deserters, having technically done nothing wrong, largely returned home to continue with their previous dealings. Josbar Liberium himself retired to a private villa in the countryside of Remtal, where he attempted to hide. Being found out by the Ryzani MSS, his final message was that he "[would] not allow the MSS to get me", and he presumably took his own life.