Collapse of the Eldham Union

The Collapse of the Eldham Union refers to a series of political crises and rebellions from 189.75 TE to 198 TE which would ultimately lead to the dissolution of the Eldham Union. It is generally considered to have begun the Lethean Maldings, a series of conflicts against the United Socialist States of Eldham that would not end until 274 TE during the Clone War.

There were two broadly recognized fronts of the conflict, the first was with the Zaidan nationalist rebellion and the second was the Lethean Loyalist rebellion. The two fronts 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 and 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, and Eleanor would be signed later in the year; which would see Zaidan gain its independence from Eleanor and a policy established to allow states to leave the Eleanorian Realms. After their defeat in the second battle of Phoenix, the wider Eldham Alliance would be unofficially dissolved after the withdraw of Sylvania and Velerin.

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

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

The Eldham Union would enter the Eldham Alliance with Scylding, Velerin, and 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 and 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 and attempted to annex New Dorasterrock, Lethe along with Bhutch orchestrated a campaign to isolate Eleanor from the Eldham Alliance and break up the Eldham Union.

Their attempts would be in vein, as Bhutch would be impeached and removed from office on the grounds of constitutional violations for his actions. Lethe would found guilty of espionage and release of classified materials. Bhutch's successor, Xelovek Serebo III, would immediately reverse the decision to withdraw from the Eldham Union and 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, and Kartek would answer the call, and so the foundation of the Mars Exulte was formed.

Lethean Loyalist Uprising
Much of the uprising in the USSE centers around the political disputes of Lethe of Laria in the Eldham Union. Lethe towards the end of his second term as General Secretary became increasingly skeptical of the USSE's relationship with Eleanor due to a number of treaty violations and tensions created as a result of it. Additionally, he was one of very few politicians in the country to not consider themselves ideologically communist and/or Xeroist; further exacerbating already menial loyalty to the USSE government.

Following the end of Lethe's term, he was left without any official power and would work from the background to advocate against the Eldham Union. He would collaborate with Bhutch Fielinya-Akataste, his successor, to deliver ultimatums to the Eldham Union's government over treaty infractions. These ultimatums would be met with initial political agreements and concessions, but to Lethe, the concessions were too few and no consequences were dire enough.

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 USSE to withdraw from the Eldham Union. Almost all of this information at the time was kept from the USSE government. The move would be done without the consent of the National Assembly, setting off a constitutional crisis inside the USSE. For the first time ever in history, General Secretary Bhutch Fielinya-Akataste, the twelfth individual to assume the position, would be controversially impeached and removed from office. The legality of this impeachment was decided in a later court date to be in the favor of the USSE National Assembly. Chelovek Serebra III promptly assumed office immediately thereafter as the next in line in the event of impeachment.

Lethe was tried separately for high treason, release of classified materials, and espionage, for which he was found guilty of only the latter two charges. Following the delivery of the verdict, Lethe would assassinate the presiding prosecutor, judge, and bystanders in the court and release all of the classified materials publicly. Despite this, General Secretary Chelovek Serebra III offered a pardon to Lethe in an attempt to calm tensions - which Lethe refused.

In the aftermath of the brutal trial, Lethe would make moves to plot a rebellion inside of the USSE in coordination with Paragon and the groups which would go on to form the Mars Exulte. The following day, Lethe would make a public apperance in the Zaidan Rebellion where the Zaidan fighters would deliver a stringing defeat against the Eldham Union's army. After the victory in Zaidan was undeniable, Lethe publicly announced the beginning of what he called the Loyalist Rebellion. This was in reference to having loyalty to Lethe, who was a former General Secretary, not to having loyalty to the USSE. Lethe's appeal was almost entirely among the Larian population, who had steadily been boasting a nationalist identity for months at that point, in a city which had a growing non-communist population. Within the USSE, the faction was widely called the "Letheans" not "Loyalists".

The Loyalists stood against the Eldham Union and what they perceived as an illegitimate government; claiming the USSE had overstepped its boundaries. Lethe promised that this rebellion would bring about a parliamentary democracy at the time. With many of the non-communists in the USSE on his side, which included a sizable portion of the USSE's best Pvpers such as Kato Leasian and indeed Lethe himself, the cities of Manzig and Nielsensbyian (St. Nilsburg) would officially join the rebellion alongside Laria, while Gehenazar and Al-Basaad would also fall under the control of the Loyalists. Very soon thereafter, Gehenazar's control would be recaptured by the USSE. The actual size of the rebellion was less than ten USSE citizens, but included very powerful individuals in USSE society which allowed for them to orchestrate a series of secessions using the claims they owned.

Soon thereafter, the Realm of Laria would be declared an independent state. Still, many of Laria's communists lived in the city and were willing to cooperate with the Lethean government despite personal disagreements to help build a parliamentary democracy, like Lethe had initially promised. The nation was renamed to the Republic of Laria at this time. Fearing that the communists would be able to take power due to their still-remaining popular appeal in the city and the endorsement of incredibly popular politicians like Ren Serebra and Xeroise Ronango'O, Lethe issued a series of purges against communists living in the Loyalist rebellion, exiling anybody with alleged communist sympathies. Laria descended into a military dictatorship shortly thereafter and no elections were ever hold in the newly-independent country until its eventual collapse from inactivity, when it joined Sylvania as a duchy.

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 and 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 and 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 and 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 and 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 and disparaging Zaidan as nothing more than "Noob squatters." After the defeat, a crisis network between the Eldham Union and 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 and all member states were required to fully intervene.

Formation of the Mars Exulte and Withdraw of Sylvania and 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 and 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, and 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 and 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 and conquer Eldham nations.

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

Battle of Phoenix
With the activation of the Eldham Alliance and 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 and 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 and fortify their towns.

Before the battle began, Sylvania would withdraw from the Eldham Alliance and 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 and conflicts of the past and stay on a true pacifist and 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 and 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 and 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 USSE, 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 USSE to enter negotiations with the Lethean Loyalists. After heated negotiations, the USSE agreed to withdraw from the Eldham Union and grant the Larian-controlled State of Kiurtrog independence along with the town of Kamieniec, the USSE's first ever war claim. The Loyalist movement would disband and reform into the independent Realm of Laria. A separate secessionist crisis in Adalor would occur, which ended in a referendum to remain in the USSE and the orchestrators of the secession would be ousted. 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 and 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 and Eldham Alliance, Eleanor would enter peace negotiations with the Mars Exulte and 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, and 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 USSE joined a shortly-lived vassalship with Scylding after the war to prevent attacks from the now-independent Laria. Ultimately Laria collapsed in on itself from inactivity, and joined Sylvania. The Lethean Maldings finally ended in 274 TE after the banning of the Hands during the Clone War, which effectively killed off the entire leadership of the Maldings. To this day, in the Lo'Oi language, the word "lethé" means "to mald" in reference to Lethe of Laria. Additionally, a holiday is celebrated on the anniversary of the end of the Maldings every year in the USSE called Lethékoré.