Collapse of the Eldham Union

The collapse of the Eldham Union refers to a series of political crises & rebellions from 189.75 TE to 198 TE which would ultimately lead to the dissolution of the Eldham Union.

There are two broadly recognized fronts within the war: the Zaidan independence rebellion & Loyalist U.S.S.E. rebellion. The two conflicts would eventually merge together with the formation of the Mars Exulte alliance, which would directly intervene on behalf of the rebelling parties in the Eldham Union.

The Loyalist front of the war would end early in 198 TE, with the Loyalist movement disbanding & reforming into the independent Realm of Laria. Following the Treaty of Laria, the Eldham Union was officially dissolved. A separate peace between Zaidan, Mars Exulte, & Eleanor would be signed later in the year, which would see Zaidan gain its independence from Eleanor & a policy to allow states to leave the Eleanorian Realms. After their defeat in the second battle of Phoenix, the Eldham Alliance would be unofficially dissolved after the withdraw of Sylvania & Velerin.

The war would take place during a time known as "No War November." The war would become so large & convoluted that the rules against foreign intervention in the war were overturned.

Prelude
The Eldham Union was the Union of Eleanor, the U.S.S.E., Asperia, & Jorvheimr under a single supranational banner & government. Originally having formed as the Imperium, the ascension of Van'la Gaboliver & Krakhov to leadership would result in a change of government structure & aesthetic.

The Eldham Union would enter the Eldham Alliance with Scylding, Velerin, & Sylvania after a large amount of pressuring to let them in. The Eldham Union would be a major participant in the war against the Vulperium, and face constant accusations throughout its membership of supporting both sides in the Morladron-Sylvania War.

Following the Eldham Alliance's victory in the Furry War & Morladron War, the Alliance was left in a very strong position but without a clear enemy to fight against. They knew who had worked to undermine them, but not how to get back at them. Without a clear purpose, most states of the Alliance would turn to management of their internal affairs. The Vulperium would later join the Eldham Union after the Furry War, resulting in yet another rebranding to the Certarian Serronan Triumvirate. This name would never stick in common tongue, and would continually be referred to by its previous name.

Inside the Eldham Union, major political instability began to brew when Lethe of Laria's political faction began to actively undermine the Eleanorians in the Union. After Eleanor had violated a number of treaty obligations & attempted to annex New Dorasterrock, Lethe along with Bhutch orchestrated a campaign to isolate Eleanor from the Eldham Alliance & break up the Eldham Union.

Their attempts would be in vein, as Bhutch would be impeached & removed from office on the grounds of constitutional violations for his actions. Lethe would found guilty of espionage & release of classified materials. Bhutch's successor, Xelovek Serebo III, would immediately reverse the decision to withdraw from the Eldham Union & brought Eleanor back into the alliance.

While Lethe was on trial, he was working with the group Paragon to prepare a rebellion should the trial result in his conviction. Paragon was extremely angry with the Eldham Alliance after Shiro annexed Bardonia, and the leaders of Paragon began reaching out to their allies in the fight to build a counter-alliance against the Eldham Alliance. Drackar, Requiem, & Kartek would answer the call, and so the foundation of the Mars Exulte was formed.

Loyalist U.S.S.E. Uprising
Much of the uprising in the U.S.S.E. centers around the political disputes of Lethe of Laria in the Eldham Union. Lethe towards the end of his second term became increasingly skeptical of the U.S.S.E.'s relationship with Eleanor due to a number of treaty violations & tensions created as a result of it. Following the end of his term, he was left without any official power & would work from the background to advocate against the Eldham Union. He would collaborate with Bhutch Fielinya to deliver ultimatums to the Eldham Union government over treaty infractions. These ultimatums would be met with initial political agreements & concessions, but to Lethe, the concessions were too little & never enforced anyway.

In 189.75 TE Lethe would be made aware of an Eleanorian plot to annex the Bardonian capital of New Dorasterrock during the West March Continuation War. Lethe openly declared his refusal to follow the orders of the plot, and from there orchestrated a plot for the U.S.S.E. to withdraw from the Eldham Union. The move would be done without the consent of the National Assembly, setting off a constitutional crisis inside the U.S.S.E. Bhutch would be controversially removed from office, with the legality of the move being decided in a later court date in the U.S.S.E.'s favor. Lethe would be tried separately for high treason, release of classified materials, & espionage, for which he was found guilty of only the latter two charges. Following the delivery of the verdict, Lethe would murder the prosecutor, judge, & bystanders in the court & release all of the classified materials publicly.

Following the trial, Lethe would make moves to begin the rebellion inside of the U.S.S.E. in coordination with Paragon & the groups which would form Mars Exulte. The following day, Lethe would make a public appearance in the Zaidan Rebellion where the Zaidan fighters would deliver a stinging defeat against the Eldham Union. After the victory in Zaidan was undeniable, Lethe publicly announced the beginning of the Loyalist Rebellion. The Loyalists stood against the Eldham Union & what they perceived as an illegitimate government. The cities of Manzig & Nielsensbyian would officially join the rebellion, while Gehnezar & Al-Basaad would also fall under the control of the Loyalists.

Zaidan Rebellion
On 10/31/2022, the Pirate State of Zaidan declared independence from the Eleanorian Realms. Zaidan was a small nation which was annexed by Nexus, and later would be absorbed into Eleanor after Nexus was annexed by Eleanor. The Zaidan rebels were largely unequipped with low numbers. A day before the battle was set to occur, Paragon would catch wind of the rebellion, and Aaron Fielinya dispatched a group of fighters from Paragon alongside other mercenary volunteers to discreetly show up on the side of Zaidan. Paragon had gone only as a way to mess with Eleanor & to cause havoc in Phoenix, the city which was warring Zaidan and were initially expecting not to be able to withstand the Eleanorian assault, which was expected to be formidable. The Eleanorians were unprepared for the mercenary volunteers which fought with Zaidan, being unequipped with low morale. They would attempt to siege the small Zaidan town of Ikoria, but quickly got caught inside of the traps & ganks throughout the small area. Inside Ikoria, the fighting was brief but intense. Legions of mole squads would tunnel throughout the claim to pick off any attackers unlucky enough to remain in the claim. The surviving attackers would largely desert the scene after their defeat.Meanwhile in Phoenix, Paragon mercenaries went throughout the claim & littered it with tnt, laying waste to large sections of the city. Small engagements with Eleanorian soldiers would occur in the city, which largely ended in favor of the Paragon fighters. By the end of the war, all Eleanorians had deserted the claim & left the Zaidan fighters freely occupying the capital building of Nexus.

The defeat would be humiliating for Eleanor, having boasted about being at the peak of their power & disparaging Zaidan as nothing more than "Noob squatters." After the defeat, a crisis network between the Eldham Union & Eldham Alliance formed to coordinate the response to the building crisis in the Eldham Union. The possibility of a coordinated attack was immediately raised, and soon the Eldham Alliance treaty was activated & all member states were required to fully intervene.

Formation of the Mars Exulte & Withdraw of Sylvania & The Vulperium
After the conclusion of the West March Continuation War, the groups which fought on the side of Aurlonor-Ryzan were left bitter at Shirokaneza's betrayal. Shirokaneza, initially fighting on the side of Aurlonor-Ryzan, would annex Bardonia after the first battle & fight in the defense of New Dorasterrock. The members of Kartek were also burned after being thrown out by the Vulperium in the interest of appeasing the Eldham Union. Paragon, Requiem, Kartek, & Requiem would all grow extremely hostile towards the Eldham Alliance. As the crisis in the Eldham Union built, these groups agreed to form an alliance called the Mars Exulte. Officially, Mars Exulte was formed as an organization against map-painters & imperialists in the defense of small nations who had nobody to protect their independece. The Eldham Alliance would allege that the Mars Exulte were nothing more than Rathniri colonizers looking to break up & conquer Eldham nations.

Aurlonor-Ryzan, Kryvonea, Sirradra, Azuria, Majulah, Eldurrim, Zaidan, Tsol, & Manzig would all eventually join the Mars Exulte & receive the full protection & collaboration of the Alliance. HorDUTY would declare a full alliance with the Mars Exulte, & Mars Exulte themselves declared their full support to the Loyalist U.S.S.E.

Battle of Phoenix
With the activation of the Eldham Alliance & the formation of the Mars Exulte, a large battle was set to occur. The Eldham Union would announce that they were withdrawing from the war & allowing Zaidan to secede. Zaidan would chose to counter-attack Eleanor, and was to pick from either Phoenix again, Kazkaya, or Arridian. Eventually, it was decided on Phoenix as the city had already been successfully besieged before. Both sides would begin to rally their side & fortify their towns.

Before the battle began, Sylvania would withdraw from the Eldham Alliance & the Vulperium would withdraw from the Eldham Union. Sylvania would allege that the Eldham Union violated an agreement they had made with them. The Vulperium would leave due to an explicit desire to avoid the wars & conflicts of the past & stay on a true pacifist & isolationist position.

The battle would start off with an immediate incursion through the west of the city, with defenders quickly being overrun inside of the city & forced into their own ganks. The defenders would quickly begin to fall. 30 minutes into the battle, the Eleanorian resupply base in Arridian would be controversially bombed by a few Mars Exulte fighters. With a large gap in kills & the defenses of the city completely overwhelmed, the battle would be decided in a total victory for the Mars Exulte. Aaron Fielinya would become the new administrator of Phoenix, declaring it the capital of the Mars Exutle on Eldham under the banner of Zaidan.

Aftermath
With Phoenix under the control of the Mars Exulte, they were again allowed to select another city to attack. To assist the Loyalist Rebellion in the U.S.S.E., Kazkaya was selected as the claim to attack due to it being the capital of the Eldham Union. The selection of Kazkaya as the claim prompted the U.S.S.E. to enter negotiations with the Loyalists. After heated negotiations, the U.S.S.E. agreed to withdraw from the Eldham Union & grant the province of Kuirtrog independence along with the town of Kamieniec. The Loyalist movement would disband & reform into the independent Realm of Laria. A separate secessionist crisis in Adalor would occur, which ended in a referrendum to remain in the U.S.S.E. The Eldham Alliance was left utterly humiliated by the defeat in Zaidan. With all the members of the Alliance having previously voted to kick Eleanor out, many were unhappy about having to defend them. When the battle was over & the result obvious, Shirokaneza left the Eldham Alliance. With the Eldham Union reduced to ashes, the Eldham Alliance would be unofficially dissolved without any members to hold it together.

After the collapse of the Eldham Union & Eldham Alliance, Eleanor would enter peace negotiations with the Mars Exulte & Zaidan. After brief deliberation, Eleanor announced the following policy: "Any towns or provinces outside core Eleanorian territory (in blue) have 5 days to reach out from the signature of this agreement to reach out to Mars Exulte leadership, who will then in cooperation with Eleanor government discuss them leaving the nation. If an agreement to stay in Eleanor is not made, the territory goes independent. These new nations will automatically have a 2 month non aggression pact with Eleanor." Zaidan would be released in accordance with this policy.

The states of Sylvania, Redoriv, Ashai, Anglunia, & the A.W.E. would form the Celestial Accords Treaty Organization. CATO would be an alliance similar to the Eldham Alliance, except following a reactionary doctrine as opposed to the Alliance's proactive doctrine.

The U.S.S.E. would be annexed by the Kingom of Scylding following the end of the war.