Battle of Yestanbul

The Battle of Yestanbul, also known as the Battle of Grogonia and Operation Equinox Dawn, was a large scale battle between the Empire of Astyllea and its allies against the breakaway state of Yestanbul, supported by Vereblock, Soleannen Empire (disputed) and an army composed primarily of mercenary bands. The Battle of Yestanbul was fought in the city of Grogonia and proved a major upset in favor of Yestanbul due to the skill of the hired mercenaries and disorganization of the Astyllean military.

Background
Yestanbul used to belong to the archduchy of grandia, (now azuria), but broke off during the alteniquian war, resulting in the inconclusive first battle, however, the war ended diplomatically and due to a series of events, yestanbul joined the newly formed empire of astyllea during its first day of existence. It was given the role of an imperial territory, one of only 3 towns to be given such a role, but, its leader, howertt, didnt feel like his views were being represented well. He was governor general for yestanbul and he did have support from many in the empire, but he was sometimes at odds with the rest of the council, and things were becoming tense. In early march, ryzan declared war on the bardonian enclave and soon gained uldarashi support, howertt immediately afterwards, without asking the high council for permission first, decided to announce his towns backing of the enclave, and in turn, violating the golden codex, the imperial law for astyllea. Many members of the senate and forum decided to take action and forum member Jecten, mayor of licéndasse/bentonia and former running man for the caeronate at that point, tried to reason with howertt to seek the councils advice first before making a decision like this, and, joined by other senators and forum members, tried getting him to rethink his decisions and let the council know, maybe even knock common sense into him. Howertt responded however by stating that he would rather die standing than live kneeling and seconds later declared yestanbul independent once more, much to the annoyance of the astyllean government, who felt like this guy was getting too far and decided to talk sense into him, at least pleading with him to rejoin, even after the enclave got vassaled by kartek and later, annexed into the rest of bardonia. Howertt, however, began building up his defenses and started raiding random civilians in azuria and its vicinity, and at this point Astyllea agreed almost unanimously that they needed to take him down.

The leadup
The battle was slated for march 20th and plans were being made. However, abdoulla, the leader of the astyllean military resigned on the eve of the battle, and people still needed to pick a replacement, moreover, as grogonia was chosen as the warbase, a few issues were occurring, chief among them was the fact that v0idf1sh was doing all the accepting. Originally plans were made to strike yestanbul from all sides, thus crishing them easily, but this plan was scrapped at the last moment as meanwhile, howertt began hiring several mercenaries, including men from ulfaeng and alfheim, who were wrongly thought to be secretly there as double agents to assist the astyllean victory and give them land rights, alongside bardonians, vereblock and volunteers from kartek. At the same time, the astyllean empire sided with tortuga, lunaris, friholm and volunteers also from kartek, alongside a couple independents, yet howertt and his goons had invested 4,000,000 in mercs and had set up a large series of defenses, despite reports that the defenses were at their weakest in the north, the plans made somehow didnt involve attacking from that position. A few minutes before battle, a major glitch resulted in the server going down pre battle, at least momentarily, but only long enough for those with bypass to be able to make it into the battle. It was now time for it to start and both sides got ready for the inevitable

The battle
(WIP)

Allegations of Spawn-Camping
Yestanbul mercenary Maynophobia violated universally recognized ethics of war in spawn camping the Astyllean forces, severely spiking the number of Astyllean casualties who were cut down upon spawning without being given a chance to escape or reequip themselves.