Great Golden War

The Great Golden War (occasionally referred to as the "Poo War" due to the Poo Sign), declared on 11/3/2020, was a war between the Empire of Uldarash and Bardonia following the Bardonian Illegal Mining Incident, where Bardonia refused to pay a 100,000 dollar fine after a gold mining incident in the mesa.

Declaration
Before the war officially began, the Empire of Uldarash was originally going to simply declare war on Bardonia at 1:50 PM EST. However, the citizens of Bardonia were informed of this, but most had to work at that time and wouldn't be able to attend, so no members were online. Inspired by Ardat Mosul's tactics in the Terracotta Wars, Uldarash founded a new town, called Siege Camp, and surrounded the entire town of Bardonia using a tactic known as a "Dalatra Ring". Once a member of Bardonia was online, they declared war. In response, Moyye, Senator of Bardonia, created the town of Alcoholism just outside the walls of Siege Camp. Alcoholism then declared war on Sanctuary, to which Uldarash responded with a declaration on the Bardonian Capital of Dorasterrock from Great Barrier.

The night of the declaration, Wurmbo trespassed onto Bardonian territory and stole 3 Bardonian horses along with their armor, hiding the horses in a dirt pit behind the walls of Siege Camp. The Empire of Uldarash also erected The Poo Sign on the border of Bardonia. The sign was taken down, but then was erected again by Nybbles, who also constructed the original sign. Nybbles was exiled from the empire for attempting to escalate tensions between the nations. While constructing the wall around the Bardonia, members of Uldarash attempted to fight off giant phantoms which circled above them. Bardonia prepared their defenses for war the next day, deconstructing their town hall and turning it into an obsidian stronghold.

At 9 AM EST, the Vastallosi Alliance of Western Rathnir, which both Uldarash and Bardonia are observer states in, held a meeting in Carvay, where last ditch efforts were made to end hostilities between the two nations. The VAWR member nations unanimously agreed that they had to intervene in the conflict, considering that both nations were technically under their protection. After long negotiations, it was agreed, with the permission of both nations, that in order to prevent destruction, the VAWR would post peacekeepers in all the cities where war was declared. The VAWR agreed to intervene in the war on behalf of whichever nation was attacked by the other side.

Start of War
Beginning at roughly 3:30 PM EST, the war officially began. Starting at night, The Empire of Uldarash found themselves suffering from insomnia, seeing as a plentiful amount of members forgot to sleep the night prior. Thankfully, an unnamed cat helped them in keeping away the phantoms throughout the night while each member slept one by one. Some called these phantoms the "Spirits of War", seeing as they were so plentiful at the start of the conflict.

Forces
On the side of Uldarash, around 15 Uldarashi warriors were stationed on the wall for battle, as well as volunteers from New-Interland. Meanwhile, around 12 Bardonian and a few VAWR warriors were positioned on the roofs of Bardonia, as well as volunteers from Escharien, the Silver Coalition, and Vraelea.

The Staring
Both Uldarash and Bardonia stood in a cold stare, to the point of which some referred to the war as The Staring War and The Cold War, until it escalated further. Due to the VAWR's agreement with both nations, neither side wanted to lose the support of the VAWR, and so both sides attempted to provoke the other into attacking without attacking first themselves. Whichever side attacked first would likely be rejected from membership in the VAWR, and would be put at a disadvantage against a larger defending force. Several days were spent simply looking at each other, members of Uldarash hungry for a war. People simply patrolled the wall around Bardonia, waiting for someone to fire first. Some members of each side casually insulted each other, trying to trick the other side into engaging. Prayers were said on Uldarash's side, as people continued to patrol the wall. Some would occasionally start patrolling directly in front of the wall, which could have been seen as a threat— though no one acted on it. Players were told to screenshot any proof of engagement from the other side before attacking.

The Fishing Competition
Eventually, a few members of Uldarash walked down into Bardonia, and started fishing. Most notably, a self-proclaimed neutral fighter, AlolanVulpix. Some neutral spectators tried to get the Uldarashi citizens away, to prevent accidental conflict, but overall they kept fishing. Soon enough, both sides were fishing, to the point some declared it a fishing competition. Tensions had drastically lowered, despite several attempts to stage an engagement from each side. One such attempt being made by Wurmbo, who stated that he was hit off the wall, when he fell. Though investigation seemed to prove otherwise, especially seeing that Wurmbo was one of the more war hungry Uldarashi citizens.

The Wall's Wedding
In between this time, Wurmbo became Whiskeyknight's wife. A beautiful marriage, wedding music played as the two rejoiced in marriage, marrying between Siege Camp and Bardonia's official territory, under a dirt smiley face, thanks to AlolanVulpix. Both sides seemed to be content, despite the war still going on. Neither party fired whatsoever, though the player yaykei, a rogue, kept trying to stage an engagement from The Empire of Uldarash by trying to kill members of both Bardonia and Uldarash, including Dentro, the leader of Uldarash's lower capital Sanctuary.

Tensions Rising
Tensions, however, would continue to rise. Further attempts by lone individuals to stage a conflict would continue. A mercenary fighting for Uldarash, Cizeek, attempted to get hit by a fishing rod in The Fishing Competition to stage an engagement. Hungry for a war, some would argue that simply attacking Bardonia would not result in a world war whatsoever, and that no one would get involved. Statements from other nations officially said otherwise, though these attempts to start war would continue.

The Tipping Point
During the night, several events of importance came nearly at once. One member of Uldarash heard an arrow, which turned out to be a shot towards the ground by another Uldarashi citizen. When one citizen, Keechoo, asked where Moyye was, Moyye simply responded,

Moyye » Look at the other side of the wall

Overall though, it appeared the war would end soon. But then, some Uldarashi men got a little too close to the city, to the point where some were even in Bardonia. MLGkiddoritofan was spotted going through some chests, despite orders from the higher-ups of Uldarash. When he heard several people coming towards him, he teleported away. Screenshots from neutral sources proved his thievery, and the VAWR peacekeeper Infinick of Tlahatl confirmed the incident. Then, VAWR peacekeeper Essendor of Carvay witnessed that Prince Corvus of The Empire of Uldarash was running amok in Dorasterrock. Corvus refused this claim, said that it was untrue, and tensions quickly rose. Both of these actions heightened tensions to the point where direct conflict was inevitable.

Warfare
"You know you are declaring war on all of our allies as well?"

"I've said it three times— we're declaring war"

Paraphrased exchange between a member of Bardonia and Uldarash.

>Ir1s was shot by WhiskeyKnight (the first death)

Soon enough, battle positions were assumed by Uldarash, and The Empire of Uldarash declared war in a panic, firing a volley of arrows at Bardonia. Due to Uldarash attacking first, as well as the theft of Bardonian items, the VAWR immediately sided with Bardonia, and summoned their own forces for immediate battle. Soon enough, The Empire lead the charge directly into Bardonian territory. Taking hold of a partially ruined fortress, The Empire of Uldarash would soon recognize the fortifications that Bardonia had set up. Only 24 minutes remained before the war would end. Several people questioned the Empire's choice to engage.

Defenses
Bardonia had seen significant development to defend against the invading Uldarashi forces. The first defense an invader would come across would be the excessive wall of berry bushes planted to slow down and slowly chip damage at any armies. Then would come a moat, in which the only direct entrance would be through a bridge. The bridge in particular being made entirely of campfires, all of which were lit. Above the campfires on the bridge were cobwebs, to slow progression even more. The bridge itself was protected by berry bushes as well, so another way into the city would likely be better.

Then, in the scenario that The Empire of Uldarash made it into Bardonia, another major defense was put into play— bamboo. Making it far more difficult to navigate, and shoot arrows through, the only reliable way through Bardonia would have been through bombing. What made the bamboo worse for the invading Uldarashi army was the fact that the Bardonians appeared to have been trained to shoot through the bamboo accurately, allowing for the equivalent of guerilla warfare.

Uldarashi Invasion & The Bardonian Bush Battle
Seeing the invasion over the moat would be near impossible, Timeken and two others went off to the other side of Bardonia, where there were no apparent player defenders. Seeing the bamboo and berry bushes still plentiful, it was impossible to break them. So, Timeken placed TNT to bomb into Bardonia, finally gaining an advantage in what would have otherwise been a stalemate, though the bombs revealed lava, causing more hazards to form around the area of invasion. Several blocks of TNT were placed, and a nether portal was broken, before other Uldarashi citizens were fully notified, and arrived. With the sudden movement of forces, the Bardonians followed suit. The relentless arrow barrage from both sides persisted throughout the fight, and many were lost to the fire. Soon, two Bardonian warriors, BackToTheHub and Ezexus, saw an opening through the arrow barrage, and ender pearled directly into Uldarashi lines. This risky gambit proved hugely successful as the two Bardonian warriors were able to cut down multiple Uldarashi warriors, and opened the way for a Bardonian counter-attack.

The Trench
Bardonia's Dandelion Temple and The Gnasty Garlic tavern were damaged by the bombing. The entire city was turned into a battlefield. Soon enough, a trench-like formation was created, with The Empire of Uldarash now huddling around, trying to fire against the defending Bardonians. Neither side had an easy escape from this deep trench, and they were forced to fight to the death. This came with little success, and Uldarash would see significant losses due to the overwhelming success of the Bardonian tactics used in warfare. Many Uldarashi warriors were slain in the trench, losing all their precious fighting equipment, while relatively little losses for Bardonia and their allies were sustained. In a massive ravine now exposed by the trench, at least 7 Bardonian and allied warriors fought against Leafy_Sheep of Uldarash, who was equipped with powerful Netherite armor and seemed to have god-like powers. Even through an assault by many Bardonian warriors and their allies, he stood undying and fought vigorously before finally succumbing to the superior forces.

The Counter-Invasion
Soon enough, Bardonia managed to push back the armies of Uldarash, and the war continued on Siege Camp, with Bardonians reaching the holding point of the wall. Tzseu of Bardonia used her magical trident, Shark Bait, to leap onto the Uldarashi siege wall, destroying the critical Uldarashi respawn points to prevent them from coming back to the battlefield. After taking Siege Camp, a few Bardonians engaged in brief spawnkilling now surrendering troops. Some Uldarashi troops, demoralized by their defeat, would plea for mercy, only to get killed again and forced to respawn. Some avoided this fate, though the suffering was still clear for them as well. Loot from Uldarashi armies got buried, and Uldarash was significantly weakened. They had already lost the war of attrition.

The Sack of Sanctuary
Sanctuary, the lower capital of The Empire of Uldarash, was a floating city that had loose involvement with the war. Though, due to the founding of Alcoholism by Moyye of Bardonia, Moyye was able to invade Sanctuary. For this reason, several people ordered members of the Uldarashi army to defend Sanctuary, such as Dentro, the Emperor, and Keechoo, the Duke of Palovina. These orders went to the point where everyone had simply assumed Sanctuary was well-guarded.

Moyye » Nobody was at Sanctuary

These assumptions proved to be anything but true, as one member of Uldarash checked on Sanctuary only to find the Ziggurat completely cleared out of its belongings along with holes in its' furnace room. Bardonian agents Moyye, OneEyedOthinus, VAWR warrior 8jaaround of Carvay, and Lokki_de_Nuuk of Vraelea raided Sanctuary, destroying and looting most of Sanctuary's chests, including their precious blackstone. The city itself had hardly been touched except for the chests within the houses.

The Aftermath
A horrible loss for The Empire of Uldarash, Bardonia's defenses, as well as them and their allies' combat skill, proved to be too much for Uldarashi army, despite holding what seemed to be an advantage at the outset. Troops of Uldarash were continually pushed back, and the war had fully ended. Though some bitterly called it a stalemate, in truth, everyone knew the losses outweighed any gains Uldarash made.

The Treaty of the West
Admittedly some arguable war crimes were committed by the Bardonians after the surrender of Uldarash. Despite Uldarash surrenedering, they were still repeatedly executed by the Bardonians, some even while attempting to flee. Notably such slaughter's included spawn killing the Uldarashi in their beds and 8jaaroud killing Emperor Dentro, despite having officially surrendered. During negotiations, the Uldarashi proposed a very generous peace deal, not only giving up the vast majority of their mesa claim, but as well as their lands in Ummarnu as a whole, with the exception of Kaahiru island. This deal was eagerly accepted by Bardonia and the VAWR, both of whom did not want to impose a harsh peace, due to a desire for future friendship. The former Uldarash mesa lands were turned into a public mining space, where anyone from any nation can freely mine, but no nation may colonize. This free mining zone was put under the protection of the VAWR, to enforce those rules. This peace deal, known as the Treaty of the West, was negotiated and agreed upon at the Grizzly Bear Pub.

Effects on Bardonia
Bardonia quickly rebuilt after the war, seeing it a major success, and claimed what remained of Camp Siege. Their defenses were collected and stored away in case Bardonia was ever declared war on again, but the obsidian tower still stands in place of the original town hall, fortified and ready to shelter the Bardonians as it did before.

Effects on Uldarash
Uldarash was convinced of their ability to bounce back from the losses of the war, despite their notable defeat. Whether or not they can is up for debate.

Government
The Empire of Uldarash saw a need for some sort of reform later on, after their loss from the war. In truth, this reform was always in the back of everyone's minds, though only now had it been something taken up front. Most notably, Emperor WilusaWarrior of Uldarash, also the King of Talawa over Lukkawa and Lukka, officially stepped down, the day after the war. A transition to a sole monarchy was in place, though Uldarash already seemed to be on track to becoming a republic as its former Paloro was.

Paloro
When the War was about to begin, Palovina stated their intolerance for Uldarashi engagement, noting that if Uldarash were to attack first, it would lose the war. Further going on to say that Palovina would secede from The Empire, Uldarash still ended up being the side to first engage. The leader of Palovina, Keechoo, would then go on to request a minimum of $20,000 to aid Palovina in its efforts to disembark. After receiving what Keechoo stated to be "far more" than the requested amount, Palovina seceded the day after, stating it would reform the former nation of Paloro it once was, now between Palovina and Felsonsvhon. Paloro has already established their own claims, only to be met with even more land than desired. A state of neutrality between the two nations can be observed quite clearly, but the relations between them may be soured behind their backs.