Battle of Yestanbul

The Battle of Yestanbul, 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 an army composed primarily of volunteers and like-minded warriors. 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 Yestanbul's mercenaries and disorganization of the Astyllean military.

Background
Yestanbul used to belong to the archduchy of Grandia (present day Azuria) following the break up of the Frosterium, however controversial, but broke off during the Brothers' War, resulting in the inconclusive first battle, however, the war ended diplomatically and due to a series of events regarding the Creation of Astyllea, Yestanbul joined the newly formed empire of Astyllea during its first day of existence, following threats of destruction from its leaders. It was given the role of an imperial territory, one of only 3 towns to be given such a role, but, its leader, Howertt, didn't 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 oftentimes 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 town's 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 attempt to discipline Howertt, hounding him over not seeking 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. 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 he was getting too far and decided to talk sense into him, at least pleading with him to rejoin, even after the enclave got vassalized by The Empire of Kartek and later, and later annexed into the rest of Bardonia. Howertt, however, started raiding random civilians in former Yimmu-Audal lands and its vicinity, along with many other nations 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 crushing them easily, but this plan was scrapped at the last moment as meanwhile, Howertt began gathering his army of friends, volunteers, and mercenaries from all corners of Rathnir, countries with volunteers included the following: Kartek, Soleannan Empire, Bardonia, Lunaris, Uldarash, Aatyeli, and others. At the same time, the Astyllean empire sided with Tortuga, Lunaris, Friholm and volunteers also from Kartek, alongside a couple independents. Howertt and his volunteers had set up a large series of defenses, despite reports that the defenses were at their weakest in the north, the plans made somehow did not 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
The battle immediately started with the Astyllean offensive towards the western wall, where a massive clash occurred. The Astyllean and allied militaries were grouped into group west, who was meant to be diversionary and group south, who was meant to be those launching a diversionary attack, however, the 2 groups attacked the walled in unison and were met by enemy arrows and lava. At least 2 attempts were being made to capture at least parts of the outer wall in order to break past, but were met with harsh resistance and several blocks of TNT; The Astylleans knew time was running out as an invis player from Yestanbul had snuck into the outskirts of Grogonia and began capping points. Suddenly, Yestanbul counterattacked from the North, Astyllea held them off for short while, but further attacks put them on the back foot, in the confusion many from both sides were killed, however, the path to Grogonia was left open and Yestanbul counterattacked, inflicting heavy casualties and capturing large sections of Grandia and Grogonia. At this point, most of the Astyllean forces and their allies had been slain by invisible fighters and mercenaries, with some Astyllean soldiers even using invis themselves, adding to the confusion. At least 2-3 soldiers from the alliance fell to friendly fire. Then, the exposed position of the spawn beds proved vulnerable and after a spawn killing instance that was frowned upon by both sides, the beds were broken and Yestanbul claimed a victory. For them, it was an underdog victory, but for the empire, a massive humiliation, as many from outside, seeking an opportunity, decided to openly mock the empire for losing to a single town, despite most of the fighters on Yestanbul's side being volunteers, mercenaries or both.