Sand War

The Sand War (also known as the Surif Conflict) was a large multi-nation war between the Zamotz Union and the USSE Protectorate of Merconis in the region on Onthukhan on Eldham.

The war's title, the Sand War originates from the allegations created by the People's Republic of Merconis which accused the Zamotz Union of partaking in illegal sand mining and also the fact that the border dispute which was the primary catalyst for the multi-nation conflict was located in the sandy deserts of Eldham.

The Sand War began on the 6th of November, 2021 and is presently ongoing with the first battle of the war occurring in Oblitus Oris on November 20th, 2021.

Emergence of the Surif Border Dispute
The roots of the conflict stretch back into late October of 2021 when the People's Republic of Merconis became an official protectorate of the United Socialist States of Eldham. As a protectorate, Merconis held the rights to free independent governance and had the ability to have their own foreign relations and elected leaders with the exception that they shall not jeopardize the integrity of the United Socialist States of Eldham's political interests in a fundamental or intentional way. Around this time, the Zamotz Union created a military alliance with the USSE, called the Treaty of Two Unions, which stated that "signing nations will agree to not begin or formally assist in any war or military conflict against the other nation; the only reason a nation may act against the other signing nation is out of defence or natural obligation." The Pale had integrated the Avarian colonies of Wolfswood into their nation on October 29th, 2021. This began the beginning of a territorial dispute where the Zamotz Union had a claim to a desert biome in the region which as a result of Eldham's map borders resulted in The Pale unintentionally taking claim of Zamotz Union claimed territory. On October 31st, 2021, Merconis purchased land from The Pale which drastically expanded upon the territorial reaches of the island micronation and gave them swathes of territory on the mainland bordering the Zamotz Union province of Phoenia. They however would inherit the border problems accidentally created by The Pale, and it was very quickly brought to attention that The Pale, and now by extension Merconis, had claimed land claimed by Zamotz Union in the desert biome including the small Zamotz Union city-settlement of Surif.

Attempts & Failures to Agree Upon the Border
Merconis had thought that they rightfully owned the land as they had paid for it but after realizations of wrongdoing on behalf of all three nations involved in regards to the land transaction and not figuring this out sooner, all the nations attempted to bide for peace.

Initial agreements resulted in a more defined border whereby the desert biome would be entirely under control of the Zamotz Union yet Merconis began to incorrectly interpret the border as lying directly East of Surif. This left the land still in a grey area in terms of control and claim as Merconis claimed the border was several chunks further West than the border clearly defined by Zamotz and Avaria, the nation that preceded the Pale, in earlier regional maps and agreements.

Border Skirmish & Occupation of Surif
Later, a purpoted Merconisan border surveyor was looking at the area and determining where to build a wall using the incorrect claimed border of everything East of Surif belonging to Merconis when they were killed by a Zamotian resident of Surif. While Zamotz claimed the surveyor had attacked first and was wearing armor, Merconis claimed that the surveyor was attacked first and was not wearing armor.

This situation quickly escalated as just a couple of hours later, Merconis marched into Zamotz with their leader, xPotatoes, and two soldiers, and declared a kill on sight order, or "KOS", on the citizens of the town of Surif, as revenge for the allegedly unprovoked attack on their surveyor. This resulted in the citizens of Surif calling in one of the Triumvirs of the Zamotz Union, King Okomi I, to investigate. Upon arrival, he was allegedly attacked by the Merconian forces and fought alongside the citizens of Surif, killing xPotatoes and the two soldiers. Zamotz reports that xPotatoes later returned and attacked again, alone, and took off his armor during the fight, resulting in a quick death. It is unclear whether or not this is disputed by xPotatoes. After the citizens of Surif and King Okomi I defeated the Mercosian force, they reported this incident to the USSE and the Zamotz council. On top of this all, Merconis claimed that Zamotians had begun mining sand in their territory which opted the name the "Sand War" as both a play on the dispute over the desert and the alleged sand destruction.

Negotiation with the USSE
Tensions heated up incredibly quickly as minor conflicts quickly spread into heated "toxic" arguments. Despite Merconis' status as a Protectorate of the USSE, and failures from both sides to inform all involved parties extensively of the situation, the Zamotz Union agreed to declare war on Merconis on November 6th, 2021 which according to the USSE violated the Treaty of Two Unions between the United Socialist States of Eldham and the Zamotz Union which had stated that neither side shall declare war or have aggressions towards one another.

The Zamotz Union claimed that acted in self defense for the citizens of Surif, and therefore did not violate the treaty and that Merconis had in fact violated the Treaty of the United Front by declaring a kill on sight order against civillians of Surif. As the USSE was heavily caught off guard by the dispute and lacked proper complete information or evidence suggesting criminal activity from the conflict, the USSE had not taken any serious action yet but intended to reprimand and take disciplinary action in Merconis for possible violations of the Treaty of the United Front.

Initial Declaration
The first declaration of war came from the Zamotz Union and was against Merconis."'The Zamotz Union declares war on Merconis It's been several days. Days of bickering on both sides, days of disputes and attacks. Most of the world, even the countries involved, hardly understood what was going on. Today, however, the Zamotz Union had a moment of clarity. After a peace agreement was settled between the Zamotz Union and Merconis over a border dispute at the Pale, the agreement was violated today. Merconis claimed that the border was right next to the Zamotian town of Surif, and that a portion of desert was theirs. They then stated that we destroyed their desert through an excavation site in the disputed territory, which existed there before Zamotian citizens even settled in the area. They stated that we attacked a Merconian surveyor, when he dealt the first blow. They stated that we killed him when he was not wearing armor, when he had not only provoked us, but took off his armor shortly before dying. Lie, after lie, after lie. It hasn't stopped, and it likely won't. Unless if we take action. On behalf of the terrorized people of Surif, whom had a KOS (Kill on Sight) order issued upon them by the Merconian leadership, the Zamotz Union will no longer tolerate their lies. The Zamotz Union has declared war on Merconis. If you wish to see additional proof, or have any questions, feel free to DM me. Thank you and have a good day.'"

USSE Attempts for Peace
Immediately after the announcement of war from Zamotz, the USSE General Secretary Chelovek Serebra, attempted to bide for both powers to come to a peace agreement and begin negotiations. While negotiations did begin, they were largely futile as enraged arguments made up most of the time, and testimony from the citizens of Surif and Merconis contradicted each other constantly.

Eventually, the Zamotz representatives agreed to terms which included a fixed border and Merconis paying $150,000, but the long-awaited negotiations were vetoed by a Zamotian Triumvir. This was criticized by many USSE citizens as being a show that Zamotz had no actual intention to preserve peace and instead desired to simply win a war to enforce their rule, something seemingly backed up by screenshots of Zamotian government officials stating they'd like to get rid of Merconis all together as they seemingly saw the nation as a nuisance. Many USSE citizens accused the Zamotz Union of participating in imperialist anti-democratic tactics to destabilize and invade the popular government of Merconis despite no formal demand of land from Merconis had been made by the Zamotz Union.

The Okomi-Surif Demands
After the vetoing of the original negotiations between the USSE and Zamotz, the people of Surif drafted another set of more thorough demands called the Okomi-Surif Demands. This was quickly and harshly disagreed to by the USSE as the demanded terms violated the USSE Constitution and criminal codes and therefore could not be passed into law by the USSE National Assembly because of both multiple sections of the Constitution and legal precedents set by the USSE's relations with Achadhia.

Support from Merconis would also be needed in most respects for it to even possibly pass, but a referendum was held in Merconis that was unanimously against the Okomi-Surif Demands which later cemented the USSE's refusal to accept them. The refusal by the USSE and Merconis to accept the Okomi-Surif Demands brought outrage as Zamotians accused the USSE of downplaying the alleged wrongdoing of Merconis, claiming they were trying to purely preserve, if not spread the communist ideology. This prompted outrage from the USSE who were now only infuriated at the purpoted lies being spread about them trying to "preserve and spread" communism when the USSE was naturally helping Merconis since it was its Protectorate, but also anger began to be fueled towards Zamotz for trying to force the USSE and Merconis to sign a series of demands that were "anti-democratic" as it endorsed the overthrow of a popular local leader, "against their people's wellbeing" as it would cast them out of their pre-existing military alliance which would degrade their military capabilities, and "chauvinistic" as the demands stated that the USSE should militaristically invade Merconis and dissolve its protectorate status should another conflict arise.

There was also a large amount of anger as generally speaking, the USSE did not approve of Merconis' behavior to begin with so the accusations that they were sympathizing with Merconis' mistakes was not only seen as incorrect but insulting as it slandered the USSE's willingness to establish peace.

The Okomi-Surif Terms:"1. Merconis leaves the League of Vircon""2. xPxtatoes is replaced by Donutaro""3. Merconis issues a formal apology to the people of Surif""4. Merconis pays 150,000 in war reparations""5. Should Merconis attack Zamotz again, they will lose their protectorate status under the USSE""6. The USSE will take over Merconis’s right to establish diplomatic relations with other countries and to conduct foreign policy as long as Merconis is under the USSE as a protectorate.""7. Merconis must respect the previously agreed-upon borders.""8. Should Merconis violate any terms of this treaty, they will lose their protectorate status under the USSE."

USSE Declaration of War
After the vetoing of USSE's proposed peace treaty by Zamotz, the National Assembly of the United Socialist States of Eldham unanimously agreed to open a state of war against the Zamotz Union for their declaration of war against a USSE protectorate and their alleged violation of the Treaty of Two Unions. General Secretary Chelovek Serebra of the USSE gave a lengthy international announcement of this at which point he stated the following:"'I would like to start by saying that the statements from the League of Vircon are not true. Last night the U.S.S.E, Merconis, and Zamotz came to an agreement. We decided in reparations and a set border. The Zamotz senate even agreed to this. Yet select leadership in the Zamotz Union decided to veto those terms. So once again the sovereignty of Merconis is in question. It is clear that one side wants peace, and the other does not.""-According to our treaty with Merconis, and the legal code of the U.S.S.E, this is an act of aggression against the U.S.S.E and our sovereignty.""-The U.S.S.E holds that the Zamotz Union does not have the right to bring into question the sovereignty of our protectorate. Further, we believe that this act of declaring war on our protectorate, without having discussed the matter with us, is a betrayal of the spirit of our alliance with Zamotz and a de jure violation of the treaty itself.""As such, the National Assembly of the U.S.S.E recognizes that a state of war has existed between the U.S.S.E and the Zamotz Union since the moment that they declared war on Merconis.'"""

Prompt Response from Allies
Allies of both nations were quick to respond to the declarations of war. The USSE and Merconis received international support from Rodinnbrok, Nova Azcoria, Valreach, the Pale, Liberum, Paloma, Tovarisha, the Commonwealth, Vulpinia, and Xeka. Notably, the alliance that Merconis is part of, the League of Vircon, voted overwhelmingly against joint military support for Merconis, but still allowed a corps of volunteers to participate, that includes the Secretary General himself.

On the other hand, the Zamotz Union received no formal international declarations of support but Eldham Entente nations including Aristios are believed to have had offered volunteer support to Zamotz but because of pre-existing treaties with the USSE, the Eldham Entente had not formally joined in the war effort.

Establishment of the Prebattle Week
Prior the first battle of the war, a week existed where both opposing parties began rapidly arming their militaries, militarizing, building fortifications, sending propaganda, and more. The first battle had been set for November 13th, with the amount of time before the declaration of war and the actual first battle being long in comparison to most wars on Eldham.

Smear Campaigns & Propaganda
Over the course of the Prebattle Week, both nations created a massive amount of propaganda and made attempts to smear the opposition in order to establish morale of soldiers and decentivize other nations from intervening on the other side of the conflict. On November 11th, propaganda had been posted depicting the United Socialist States of Eldham as Adolf Hitler and Merconis as a racist Japanese caricature which resulted in the propaganda being taken down to prevent breaking of the rules. This resulted in outrage from members of the USSE and certain citizens of the Zamotz Union claimed that they were hypocrites as the USSE had published propaganda depicting the Zamotz Union as pigs. Eventually after threats of opening tickets with administration over the propaganda, the arguments ceased.

Establishment of the NFZ & Criticism
The National Front of Zamotz (NFZ) is a political party created by Mayor of Surif, Badibedo on November 10th, 2021. The platform of the political party called for expansionism, extreme anti-socialism, ultra-nationalism, and a more centralized government. Upon the discovery of the political party, it was heavily criticized by the USSE and was called a fascist political party for what it endorsed. It was also extensively criticized for having a name that seemingly referenced the real-world fascist United Front political party in the UK.

The founding of the party also called into question the reliability of the claims made by the people of Surif against Merconis as some individuals claimed that they had ulterior motives as they wished to destroy socialism at any costs and claims were made that they were intentionally refusing peace negotiations in order to act out this plan.

The name of the political party was eventually changed as per request of the server administrators for having the same name as a fascist political party."'The National Front of Zamotz calls for expansion of the Union and pushes for a closer relationship between provinces. We are against socialism, and we will crush them by any means necessary. We want to create an economy that will uphold the union, we want a stronger Zamotz.' -Badibedo on the platform of the NFZ."

Spying & Espionage
Both nations at various points claimed the opposing side was utilizing spies. It is estimated (at the time of this article being written) that at least three people have been arrested in the USSE on accusations of espionage or treason. The USSE however did not make any official statement on the matters.

In the Zamotz Union, government officials are believed to have suspected that the USSE was using spies to find confidential information about the military and the so-called "actual" intentions of the government in declaring war. This began after the screenshots of Badibedo's political party registration were leaked to the public.

Preparations for War
Both sides of the conflict quickly began to prepare for war, the USSE would start constructing a large fort directly outside Oblitus Oris named Fort Merconis where the first battle was to be held. This fort was surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of berry bushes and a moat of lava. The entire fort was covered in buttons and trapdoors to avoid the placing of redstone blocks to get over obstacles. Door-ways were also blocked with a slab that forced people to crouch in order to get through doorways and stairwells were made to be intentionally annoying to get up and to be easily flooded with lava should be necessary.

The Zamotzians would make a small camp named Fort Drigo Southwest of Oblitus Oris within Merconisan territory as a claim to quickly travel to Fort Merconis from. Both nations extensively began a process of mass-producing potions, armor, weapons, and more.

Further Attempts at Negotiation
The USSE would extensively attempt to make peace with the Zamotz Union over the Prebattle Week despite initial failures, all of which would ultimately approach failure as well. Arguments against the Okomi-Surif Demands were constantly made but ultimately the Zamotz Union refused to budge and continued war. Eventually the consensus amongst much of Zamotz would be that the war should continue either way in order to enforce their rule and demands while the USSE had not wanted the war at all.

BijonGate
On November 13th, 2021, a Simulami citizen and independent journalist by the name of Bijon began extensively interviewing both sides of the conflict and attempting to gain information behind what really happened at Surif. Eventually he would release a document aptly named "The Merconis and Zamotz Conflict" where he intended to expose criminal activity and organized mischief that had led to the crisis and that this entire war was intentionally provoked by members of Merconian leadership.

In this document, the border surveyor who was publicly identified as DonuTaro confessed that he felt guilty and informed Bijon that he had attacked Surif intentionally and had been ordered by xPxtatoes, leader of Merconis, to attack Badibedo of Surif and that the attack happened well within Zamotzian territory. This was the first time evidence had been brought to the table that decisively told the full story of what happened. DonuTaro then confessed to Bijon that xPxtatoes had used the set-up "attack" to enforce a demilitarized border against Zamotz bordering Surif and had created what was formally called the "Zamotz Invasion Defense Base," more commonly known as Fort Santiago, in order to enforce it.

This meant that xPxtatoes had illegally commit conspiracy, ordered Merconian citizens to assassinate foreign government officials (Badibedo), and had violated the first section of the Treaty of Two Unions by attacking USSE allies and that evidence now decisively existed for the first time proving this. While Zamotz had alleged that xPxtatoes had done this from the beginning, no actual evidence was actually given to prove their explanation of events. The USSE suspected xPxtatoes had not been completely truthful from the beginning, but was unable to present charges do to a complete lack of evidence initially, however once Bijon released his formative document, they could proceed with charges. The document and controversy as a whole erupted as what has become known as 'BijonGate'.

The Trial Proposition
After the release of BijonGate, the USSE made another proposition for peace which was the closest to actually achieving it. This included many of the original first demands such as reperations, a defined border, etc., but now included a clause that the USSE would lead a trial against xPxtatoes for his crimes with a neutral Uraki judge and the Prosecution being led by Zamotzians of their choosing. This was the most popular of later peace attempts, having overwhelming support from the USSE and international community and even a majority of Zamotzians wanting to opt for this. However, because of the objection of a few high government officials, this would not pass which meant that war was now inevitable.

DDOS Attacks & Battle Delays
The war was originally set to begin at 1:00 PM EST on November 20th, 2021. Soldiers began congregating in the area two hours prior to when the battle was supposed to happen, but shortly before the battle was intended to begin the server began experiencing extreme DDOS attacks which shut down the server.

The battle was postponed to 2:00 PM EST, but yet again because of DDOS attacks was forced to be postponed to 3:00 PM EST. Despite the fact that the DDOS attacks kept on continually happening, the war was never changed from 3:00 PM EST. While many USSE government officials and even some Zamotzians proposed moving it to another date, many decided against this as the first battle had already been postponed two weeks from when war was first declared.

Overview of Battlegrounds
The battle was set to occur at Fort Merconis which was on the North Merconisan mainland directly Southwest of Oblitus Oris. It featured three towers, including two large ones known as the First Tower and Second Tower respectively going North to South. It was surrounded by a moat of lava and a gargantuan amount of sweet berry bushes intended to slow down enemy advances and prevent easy scaling of walls.

The fort itself was outfitted in buttons and trapdoors on every single surface to prevent the extensive placing of redstone blocks which could be used during war time in claims. Various corridors and virtually every single staircase was additionally outfitted with trapdoors so that they could be flooded with lava from above to further slow down advances and kill of those without fire protection.

Zamotzian March from Fort Drigo
At 3:00 PM EST once the war had begun with the plugin, Zamotzians began quickly marching North from Fort Drigo. They then went onto the roads outside Oblitus Oris and went East towards Fort Merconis.

Defense of Fort Merconis
Once the Zamotzians began running down the road to Fort Merconis, they were met with a barrage of flaming arrows and were shot at with fireworks. The Zamotzians made there way into a tiny tower on the Northeastern edge of Fort Merconis and crossed through scaffolding bridges. In these lower levels of Fort Merconis that they had crossed into, USSE and Allied troops attempted to fill it with lava to varying effect as most of these attempts were stopped as Zamotzians blocked off the lava with redstone blocks. For the first moments of the battle, the Zamotzians were stuck at the lower levels of the fort because of the massive amount of troops preventing their entry up. At around 3:09 PM, the Zamotzians advanced to the top of Fort Merconis where the first major melee fighting occurred. Around two dozen soldiers began fighting ferociously at this point as Zamotzians gradually trickled in from a partially blocked stairwell with USSE and Allied troops waiting at the top for them. Dozens of wolves, likely numbering over 100, were sent after Zamotzians to further slow down their advance but were almost immediately slaughtered. The USSE troops adorned the "Jester" job tag while the Zamotzians used the "Janitor" one.

Capture of the "First Tower"
After around 3 minutes of fighting, at about 3:11 PM, USSE and Allied soldiers began to move into the so-called "First Tower". Zamotzians followed them but remained confined to the lower levels and stairwells were immediately plugged with redstone blocks and filled with lava. Those USSE and Allied soldiers still on the rest of the base were quickly murdered by Zamotzians and violent combat occurred in the stairwells and lower levels of the First Tower.After a few moments, Zamotzians moved back into the so-called "Two Little Towers" where they exchanged arrowfire with the USSE soldiers at the top two levels of the First Tower. After futile attempts to redstone block their way into the First Tower, they began slowly coming up through the stairwells of the First Tower.

At around 3:25 PM, troops from the Pale were pushed out of the Lower Battlements, severely deminishing the number of those protecting the First Tower as TNT began to be blown up in the lower sections of the First Tower by Merconisans which encouraged them to start running. At around 3:27 PM, TNT was reported at the top levels of the First Tower. The top floor contained chests and supplies filled with armor, tools, and potions for people to continually respawn and keep fighting. At least one block of TNT exploded resulting in around half of these supplies, mostly potions being lost. At 3:28 PM, it is believed that Zamotzians including creamymynoteblock had used either potions of levitation or crimson wine to breach the top floor of the First Tower which at this point was mostly people who had respawned and were getting prepared to get back out and fighting as most soldiers at this point were fighting in the lower floors, had escaped to the Second Tower, or surrendered. At this point the kill count began to explode massively as people were constantly spawn killed at the top floor of the First Tower and people could only flee by jumping out battlements and arrow slits. Shortly after, at around 3:29 PM, the rest of the USSE soldiers began to rush into the top floor of the First Tower to fight off the advancing Zamotzians after they noticed the massacre happening. They were however fought back and most died in the ensuing chaos. Right after this attempt, the Pale charged the First Tower and temporarily retook it, reclaiming the land they had lost. This would further be chaotic because constantly lag spikes were happening and the server shut down on two separate occasions during the battle because of the previously mentioned DDOS attacks. Many soldiers were also combat tagged, diminishing the amount of people to fight on the side of Merconis. Spawn kills continued to happen until Zamotzians began demanding their soldiers to not kill people who were unarmored, but many soldiers did not listen to these commands. The Second Tower was lost soon after this, and troops were unable to flee to it as scaffold bridges had been broken. Intense fighting continued to happen scattered over the next twenty minutes as people logged on and off trying to flee the scene. Some of the most violent of this fighting happened in the actual town of Oblitus Oris where various troops had hidden to run away or teleport from the battlefield. Some people such as xPxtatoes intentionally threw themselves at the Zamotzians while unarmored and were killed 20+ times adding to the kill count.

Call for Surrender
At around 3:30 PM EST, the battle was decisively lost as virtually every single USSE soldier had either now fled or lost their stuff. The call to surrender in its entirety would be given around this time by General Secretary Chelovek after he saw that the fort had been lost and they had lost all of their defensive positioning and good gear.

"The War Chicken"
There was a chicken contained in a class tube in the middle of Fort Merconis that survived and watched the chaos, that after the war became known as the War Chicken our Doug 2 and a symbol of perseverance in the face of obstacles.

Surviving Footage of the Battle

 * Footage from GreenskinGouger (Zamotzian POV) Incorrectly labeled as Shirokaneza vs Zamotz, shows the beginning of the battle.
 * Footage from Creamy (Zamotzian POV) Shows the beginning of the batle.
 * Footage from Earth (USSE POV) Actual battle starts at around an hour and thirty minutes. Shows most of the battle.
 * Footage from AGR3SSION (Zamotzian POV) Shows various satirized clips from the battle.
 * Footage from Runik (Admin Spectator POV) Shows the middle of the battle from a flying spectator POV, specifically including the capture of the First Tower.