Troyan Raids of Posavaria

The Troyan Raids of Posavaria were a string of raids and clashes between the Troyan Raiders and the Republic of Posavaria over a 3-day period at the end of February 2021.

The Troyan Raiders were a migratory group of bandits who specialized in combat and traveled from outside Rathnir to settle in northern Serafini. They began to explore the countries around them to look for towns to plunder.

Posavaria was a nearby country that followed the ideals of isolationism, neutrality, and conflict avoidance, instead choosing to focus on peaceful building. They had recently undergone an incredible population boom.

First Raid of St. Gibersburg
The first conflict between the Raiders and Posavaria began on the 25th of February, 2021, when the Troyan leader (Rozepoes), and his companion (Noobinho) happened upon the Posavari city of St. Gibersburg while exploring. BatChatap, MineRabbitt604, and a few other residents were online. Rozepoes and Noobinho, both fully outfitted for combat, charged into Pos Valley and slaughtered all the unprepared residents outside the city boundaries and chased the rest into town. Fortunately for the Posavari, the Raiders could not attack people or open doors within the city boundaries. When they discovered this, they hung back just outside the town boundaries and besieged the city, killing anyone who tried to leave and demanding gold from the residents.

News of the siege spread quickly to Askalon, a nearby city, which sent a more well-equipped task force to deal with the problem. When it arrived, the bandits briefly engaged the Askalonian reinforcements before giving up on the siege and fleeing the city. The Askalonians took a few moments to check on the Gibersburgers before pursuing the raiders, but eventually lost them in the hills surrounding Pos Valley.

Posavari Intelligence indicated that the raiders belonged to a settlement called "Troy" but could not pinpoint the location. It was theorized that the bandit camp was somewhere close within Posavaria's borders, so a search effort began to find the town and eliminate it.

Posavari leadership announced news of the raid to the world and placed a bounty on Rozepoes and Noobinho's heads, as well as offered money for any intel on the location of Troy. Rozepoes soon received word of the bounty and was angry, pledging to his fellow Troyans that they would return to St. Gibersburg and finish the job they started.

Second Raid of St. Gibersburg
On the 26th of February, 2021, the Troyan Raiders returned to St. Gibersburg with more men and set siege to the city, arriving around the same time of day they had attacked before.

This time the Posavari were ready, and reinforcements from Askalon and New Kalaningrad arrived within minutes to join the Gibersburger defenders. A fierce battle broke out between the two forces, raging over the outskirts of St. Gibersburg and into Posopolis, the capital of Posavaria. A section of the Posopolis wall had recently been burned down by an arsonist, and so the raiders entered the city and continued the battle in an empty field there.

Both sides took casualties, but the skilled raiders dealt significantly more damage to the defenders than they received. The Posavari forces had no choice but to retreat to several cliffside bunkers built around the city and regroup. After the battle ended, the raiders quickly lost interest and wandered around griefing anything they could, doing some damage to bridges, farms, and other infrastructure around Posopolis.

Raid of Askalon
Later that day, after the Askalonians and Kalaningradians had returned home, the raiders unexpectedly appeared around Askalon. The residents recognized the Troyans and panicked, blocking any entry to the city they could. Many defenses had recently been built to prepare for a possible attack, and so it took the Troyans some time to find a way inside. The Askalonians, many of whom had recently lost all their gear in the Second Raid of St. Gibersburg, avoided engaging the raiders as much as possible. The raiders griefed whatever unclaimed builds they found and killed anyone who stepped outside of the city limits, eventually losing interest and leaving.

Planned Raids of Troy and Posopolis
Not long after the Raid of Askalon, Posavari Intelligence finally discovered the location of Troy: a peninsula on the northern end of Serafini. This was much farther away than expected, especially considering how much attention the Troyans had given to Posavaria instead of any other country. At this point, Posavari officials began to consider these conflicts a pseudo-war instead of just bandit attacks, as it was clear they were being targeted specifically. However, Troy was still not an nation-state, just a bandit camp, and so an official war was not declared.

In order to prevent future attacks and regain lost gear, Posavaria began planning a massive assault of Troy. Several other nations and organizations, including Akratia, the Handy Helpers, and some of the Soleannan Spirits pledged assistance. Bandits are widely disliked across Rathnir, but the excessive toxicity and brutality of the Troyan Raiders earned them special animosity.

Shortly before the planned assault, Posavari Intelligence discovered that some of the raiders were using dark powers to gain unnatural abilities such as flight or combat enhancements. They also discovered that the Troyan Raiders were a much larger group than anticipated, and that more Troyans were still migrating to Troy from outside Rathnir and growing a massive skilled army, far more than had originally attacked St. Gibersburg and Askalon. And lastly, Intelligence discovered that the Troyans were planning an enormous assault of Posopolis, the capital of Posavaria, believing it to be the richest city and ripe for plunder. For all these reasons, Posavaria canceled their attack on Troy and instead began preparations for the attack, including evacuating nearby cities. A few mercenaries still tried to go through with the attack but were quickly killed by the Troyans.

Banishment of the Troyans
Following the discovery of the Troyans' dark magic, and because of the excessively destructive and toxic nature of the raiders, the Posavari began earnestly praying to the heavens to destroy the Troyans forever. Suddenly, all the Troyans were consumed by the gods and disappeared, much like the Pax Romanians many months before.

While this miracle was celebrated by the Posavari, no consensus could be reached on which god actually performed it - whether it was Solaris, the Goddess Norn, or even the Immortal Dirt itself.

This effectively ended the Troyan Raids of Posavaria, returning peace to the country.