Northport War

The Northport War was the invasion of the Kingdom of Aurora by the New Dorasterrock Accords starting on June 22, 2022. It was the largest offensive in Rathnir and Eldham History, with over 200 combatants taking part in both battles. The invasion put into action Ganeff’s and the N.D.A’s goal of conquering Aurora and dividing it. Their ultimate goal was to instate Ganeff as the King of Aurora, while ceding significant territories to various N.D.A nations.

In the year leading up to the invasion, Ganeffs and Aurora had become increasingly at odds, beginning with the end days of the Second Empire of Uldarash. Following the collapse of the Union of Haven on May 29, 2022, which Ganeff founded and led, Ganeff began planning an invasion of Aurora with his allies in the N.D.A. Over the course of the invasion, over 100 personnel of the N.D.A powers at each battle —the largest invasion force in the history of Rathnir and Eldham—invaded the Auroran city of Northport. The offensive marked a massive escalation of tensions in Haven, as the first military invasion of Havenite soil from foreign powers since the collapse of Uldarash.

The failure of the invasion reversed the success of the N.D.A, until then an alliance which dominated conflicts it had been involved in. Operationally, N.D.A forces achieved significant victories and occupied some of the most important areas of Northport and inflicted, as well as sustained, heavy casualties. Despite these early successes, the N.D.A offensive stalled in the Second Battle of Northport on the 7th of July, 2022, and the subsequent Auroran Savras counter-offensive pushed the N.D.A back. Both N.D.A and Auroran High Command anticipated a third battle, as neither side had reached the necessary threshold to secure the enemy’s city, However no such battle occurred, instead the N.D.A command saw significant infighting and a lack of supplies, leading to the collapse of war efforts and the exit of multiple nations from the alliance. The N.D.A’s diminished forces could no longer muster the support for an attack against Aurora, and subsequent attempts by remaining N.D.A members to retake the initiative and continue the invasion failed, which resulted in the N.D.A’s defeat.

Auroran victory was widely considered an upset, and lead to infighting and the eventual collapse of the N.D.A. Of the N.D.A nations directly participating in the war, the Imperium, and Viodoxa completely collapsed. Tortuga later lost the majority of its territory. Although none of these nations collapsed as a direct consequence of the war, their failure in the Northport War is widely attributed as one of the many causes.

On October 26th 2022, Ganeff, and Aurelian, King of Aurora personally agreed to peace. Officially ending hostilities.

Tortuga
TBA

Ganeffs
Ganeffs declared war on Aurora with the expressed purpose of regaining Northport, the town he founded in March of 2021. Management of the town was given to his son, Ward at some point in late January or Early February 2022, though talks in Council indicate Ganeffs still held onto it until at least the 12th of February with the claim itself being owned by Sixes for an unknown amount of time. Eventually however, Ward became full owner of Northport, before he passed it to Sythe via Sinclair on the 13th of March. Ganeffs' role in the fall of Uldarash and his leading role in the Union of Haven led to him being removed from the Kingdom of Aurora. It was on this removal that Ganeffs justified his invasion of Aurora, aimed at freeing Northport from Auroran control.

This, however, was only the public justification for the war, as Ganeffs declared to his supporters that he intended to conquer Aurora completely. Ganeffs planned to rule the majority as a new kingdom, while some lands would be given away to other members of the N.D.A.

First Battle of Northport
By the time of the First Battle of the War, the odds appeared to be stacked in the N.D.A's favour. Aurora had gathered their allies and paid for mercenaries to equalise the numbers, but remained outnumbered. Northport had also been extensively fortified, surrounded by a massive pit and covered in traps.

The battle started relatively slowly, as the N.D.A attempted to make their first breach. Robot and Ganeffs were the first to go up to the walls, supposedly to talk with the defenders. N.D.A plans, however, had been leaked to the Aurorans, stating that this was a diversion for an attack. When they arrived at the edge of the pit, they were pushed in by a defender who had pearled onto their side, killing them both. Several attempts were made at claiming areas outside of the walls, but extensive use of fireballs by the defenders stopped most of them from succeeding.

The first major engagement came on the Southwest corner of the defensive wall. The area was highlighted by Aurorans as a weak spot in the defenses before the battle, as it was very easy to bridge to, but they didn't have enough time to fix it before the battle. The first group of attackers who breached the walls through this weak spot were repelled, but the second attempt successfully broke through into the market area of the city. A large fight ensued there and in the boarded-up canals, which the N.D.A won, leading to an Auroran retreat further into the city, towards the city center.

Once the first breach had been made, the N.D.A began a slow process of clearing through Northport street by street, until the final fight of the battle occurred in and around the Northport town hall city center. The N.D.A succeeded in taking control of the roof of the building, but the Aurorans were in control of the lower sections of the town hall and surrounding city center by the end of the battle. This resulted in the battle ending indecisively. The N.D.A had retreated out of the city, leaving the Aurorans to reorganize and count their losses. Northport had been significantly destroyed as a result of the N.D.A attack.

Second Battle of Northport/Battle of Savras
By the time of the second battle, the strength of the N.D.A had waned significantly. Tortuga had exited the war, taking all of their fighters with them. All other nations remained, but each of them also provided less troops than before, as motivation to continue fighting dropped. Infighting within N.D.A command as well as a lack of supplies had contributed to their struggle to raise their armies.

The Aurorans, eager to not lose their homes, remained motivated; though they also had rallied less troops, they had lost a much smaller percentage overall. Once again, Sentinel Hasufel, with his connections to mercenaries and many alliances on Eldham contributed significantly in strengthening the Auroran defense forces.

This time the Aurorans decided to take the offensive as well as defending Northport, striking the enemy at Savras, the city which was being used to attack Northport. The Second and Third Auroran Corps made extensive use of hit-and-run tactics throughout the battle - arriving at Savras, killing the garrison, then retreating when the N.D.A's best soldiers arrived to fight them.

The defense of Northport itself was also successful, as the N.D.A struggled to get out of the breach they made in the wall. The N.D.A managed to inflict many casualties by pushing defending soldiers into the massive pit that surrounded the city, but it wasn't enough to substitute for their lack of progress in capturing the city. As the battle continued, the N.D.A's strength faltered, and eventually they were unable to send enough people to push the Aurorans out of Savras. By the end of the battle, the government building and cathedral of Savras were completely controlled by Aurorans, resulting in an undisputed Auroran victory. This would be the last military engagement of the Northport War.

Stalemate
The defeat at Savras caused major problems for the New Dorasterrock Accords. Another defeat along the lines of Savras would result in the complete loss of any town used in the war, which combined with the high requirements of a city capable of attacking Northport to make the potential risks of another battle exceedingly high. All nations involved wished to continue, but when all failed to provide a town the war entered into an official stalemate.

The remaining dedicated leadership of the N.D.A remained as committed as ever to the continuation of the war, with the Imperium going so far as to announce the dissolving of any treaties they had with nations who were not at war with Aurora. At the lower levels of the N.D.A's constituent nations, however, dissent was beginning to grow.

The I.A.U (Viodoxa) was the second nation to exit the war. Their own separate war with Paradise had ended in a crushing defeat which sent the Union into disarray. They were removed from the N.D.A, and shortly thereafter collapsed into the Autokratoria Sirradra and many other successor states. They were followed by the Soleannen Imperium, which would largely be annexed by Certaria following Bardonia's declaration of independence. Both Certaria and the new Bardonian government were friendly to Aurora, reversing Aurora's position on the world stage in only a few short weeks.

The war continued in official stalemate for almost five more months, however remaining former N.D.A nations that had not signed peace with Aurora did not consider themselves at war, or even hostile towards Aurora for that matter. On October 26th, 2022, King Aurelian an Aurorii, and Ganeff personally signed peace in a private meeting. No territories, nor reparations of any kind were exchanged, ending the war in a White Peace.