Second West March War

Keep in mind that the editor is in the GMT timezone, hence the times stated in this article are all in GMT.

The Second West March War, also known as the Fourth Ryzani-Bardonian War or the Great Northern War is a conflict between the Second Aurlûnoren-Ryzani Empire (backed by the West Lands Alliance) & the Dandelist Empire of Bardonia.

The war came after what appeared to be months of the improving of relations between Ryzan (later Aurlûnor-Ryzan) & Bardonia following the fall of the Fourth Empire of Bardonia. The declaration of war by Andreas 'The Dark Prophet' ended exactly 6 months of peace in Syltor, and reinvigorated the continent's lack of trust in Bardonia.

Build Up To The Conflict & Declarations of War
Historically, the nations of Bardonia & Ryzan have been almost persistently at odds with each other, whether that be by directly fighting/dissolving each other or fighting on the wider political stage. However, a change of tides was seen after the fall of the Fourth Empire of Bardonia, wherein the new Kingdom of Bardonia began improving relations with the Ryvenate of Ryzan. The reason for this is unclear, but it helped to maintain the peace in Syltor, even after Bardonia dissolved and reassembled.

Following a not-so-brief stint as a core member of the Imperium, Bardonia underwent a renaissance from which the population was finally raised above pre-4th Empire levels and their impact on Rathnir was greatly increased once again through events organised by the government (Uni in particular). However, a rapid expansion of Bardonia was once again seen, first through the vassalisation of Chance, and then the defection of Coltmaere from the Imperium to Bardonia, all taking place over the course of 2-3 days. This understandably worried the nations of Syltor about what was to come, yet what was to come also did not surprise many.

At 3:58am GMT, on the 9th August 2022, Andreas issued an official declaration of war on Aurlûnor-Ryzan on behalf of Bardonia, stating that  'the dandelions have guided him to Aurlûnor-Ryzan' , and  'Let the Second West March War Begin'.

Responses
The Temple Territories of Lûnatwa were the first to respond to the declaration at 04:12am, announcing their support for Aurlûnor-Ryzan, while referencing Bardonia's deceptive nature and that they  'have always been the ones to have been against their own word'.

The Assoti Era of Farthorn were next to respond at 04:31am, stating their allegiance to Aurlûnor-Ryzan, providing a statement on the repeating cycle that Bardonia wishes to continue, and how  'it will end the same if we do nothing'.

The Uldarashi Enclave (Alokhrad) responded at 04:49am, expressing their support for Aurlûnor-Ryzan as an honouring of the West Lands Alliance.

Orbitville expressed their support for Bardonia at 05:00am, expressing that Ryzan is in fact 'quite cringe'.

Chancellor Nori of the Aurlûnoren half of the union published an official statement at 05:02am, referencing that Aurlûnor-Ryzan sticking together in this war was  'righting the wrong we made' and established that the union would not dissolve in the fact of conflict under any circumstances.

At 05:18am, Ararin declared support for Bardonia, wishing to rid Syltor of the 'Aurlûnor-Ryzani menace'.

At 05:22am, Petra Ariti of the Aurlûnoren-Ryzani Department of External Affairs published a scathing denouncement of Bardonia, stating that they are 'oath-breakers', and threatening that 'if they wish to remain a shell of their former self, so be it'.

The Unitary State of Chance published their official declaration of support for Bardonia at 05:23am, stating that despite good relations with Aurlûnor-Ryzan, they have an agreement to uphold with Bardonia as a vassal state.

Finally, at 07:04am, Tsarina-Velereth Shan Tossovich Leyla-Earcala published an official statement, saying that the war declaration was 'no surprise to the system in Syltor' and that they are not afraid of 'a ghost of an empire'.

The United East Haven Republic followed up said statement at 12:00pm by declaring support for and deploying troops to Aurlûnor-Ryzan on the behalf of the West Lands Alliance and the Commonwealth of Haven.

Raid on Carthya
Around the time of initial declaration Bardonians raided Carthya City. While it's unclear due to conflicting reports what exactly happened, it's widely known that the Bardonians withdrew after ransacking parts of the city. It's also widely said that Bardonians took casualties but it's unknown how much.