Battle of Sawiyah Oasis

The Battle of Sawiyah Oasis was a large battle occurring at the Sawiya Oasis in central Erume Province during the 5th Barbarian Rally. On August 28th, combined forces from Andorn, the Aurlûnor Velande, and Kyydrosil teamed up and infiltrated the base of a group of squatters attempting to burn the forests of Aurlûnor as part of their religion of Kellerism.

Background
Raktrokia was the name of the state the squatters attempted to create. From their fort in the Ashuran Desert, they chopped down massive tracts of forest in Nir, Hampo, and Tamaka provinces, as well as clearing the savannahs of Erume and Sharla clean. In their place they left campfires burning, and shrines to a god named "Keller". The Kellerists posted their propaganda, and quickly officials from Aurlûnor discovered them.

Having violated the laws against heresy in the Aurlûnor Velande, the Raktroki were identified as particularly hostile squatters. Not only were they multiple offenders, but their mass ecocide decimated entire biomes worth of forest. Upon seeing what had happened to the swamp forests of her home province, Chancellor Mao Meili publicly denounced the Kellerists for their rampant destruction of the environment. She brought up further fears of a potential famine that could strike, as the mass deforestation could cause a trophic collapse that would deprive Hloamar, Nekomar, Ruscoliemar, and the surrounding regions of food.

Armed Conflict
Several raids were launched, and the forces of the Velande clashed in skirmishes with the squatters soon after an official war was declared with the Raktroki fort settlement, which was built atop the Sawiyah Oasis. The squatters turned the fort into a maze of traps and false ends, planting fields of cacti and bamboo and laying fields of lava to deter incursions from the region's de jure owners. One of the Raktroki was banned for griefing. Early pre-battle scouting work conducted by Aelfiel Meng proved indispensable to the combined allied forces. He was able to determine the location of the enemy's quarters, storage rooms, and more four hours before the battle itself, allowing the Aurlûnoran forces to strategize.

The allied siege was broken into three groups: one led by Velereth Sareariel Lelya-Earcala comprised of Aurlûnoren forces, one led by Judge Almedon of combined Aurlûnoren and Raajjyn troops, and a third battalion of Andornish troops led by Kaiser von Savras. Each division attacked the fort at a different side at 11:10 PM local time.

In Sareariel's division, Governor Azan of Sharla led the attack by detonating explosives to bust through the walls of the fort. Though the traps slowed the advance, and many of the sieging troops were injured by cactus, lava, and even their own TNT, they nonetheless breached all of the enemy's defenses. In return, the defenders abandoned their fort and escaped through a Nether portal. A frantic chase through Hell went underway, and many patrols were sent to different cities across the Velande to see if the squatters looted anything.

Riddled throughout the base were signs written by the defending cultists, including one admitting defeat: "you have won, but at what cost?" read one. Apparently the cost of victory was not much more than a few blocks of redstone and TNT.

A video of the battle can be found here, courtesy of Alfy.

Effects
With the squatters squashed, the rest of their base was looted. Many of the victorious troops headed east to Djinn's Bottle, a local bar in a desert outpost, to celebrate.

For his valiant efforts in combat, Zazo the Goblin proved the willingness of the goblin folk to fight for the Aurlûnor Velande, and from this story many of the infamously-xenophobic Aurlûnoran people began to view goblins as equals as opposed to foreign barbarians. Spiritual effort conducted by Archwarden Sel Leyla-Earcala appealed to heaven, and only a few days after on September 2nd, the forest that was cleared by the heretics was restored by divine intervention. The dense virgin forests of Nir are now protected, and regarded as one of Aurlûnor's greatest natural sites.