The transition out of the Boundlord system after nearly 2 Ages was bound to inevitably be a trying time for the many nations of Aph.
Marred by confusion, corruption, and division it was kept relatively stable through the unifying despisal of the Wraiths.
However as that embers of that shared hatred began to die down, new and old animosities were set ablaze and would soon make hungry the peoples of Aph to right the injustices they had seen perpetrated both during the boundlord rule, and before and after.
The most notable war occurring late in the 23rd Age once the borders on the post-boundlord continents had been cemented was the Aphalia-Aestia War of Ea1186.
This war was a strange one from the onset, as ever since the union of Lord Electors and high Judges of Aphal had affirmed their authority and created the “4th Aphalian Union” , the question of the colonies established by Gimson and Rivea-Waven had become the primary issue of the council of Aeoporta, and the most contentious.
Grogramn, now old but no less resolute to not see the 4th Union dissolve, was keen to avoid the topic, stating that it could only insight division regarding the separation of lands, after all although Gimson and Rivea-Waven had been the primary bankrollers of their colonies abroad, many migrants from the other nations of Aphal and indeed greater Aph also now inhabited the continent.
This and the fact that it would surely be members of all of the nations of the union contributing men to reclaim territory and he knew that none of the non-colonial members of the assembly would be satisfied leaving without gains.
All of this debate neglected to mention that the Aestian Union had been a staunch ally and supporter of anti-boundlord rebel groups and had been instrumental in the eventual successful coup with the smuggling of poleguns and their designers and engineers.
Nonetheless the voices of Rivea and Waven in the council managed to drum up some support even outside of their own borders, and soon Rivea and Waven themselves threatened to withdraw support from the Union and pursue reunification on their own terms.
Grogramn was forced, begrudgingly, to concede, and a planned invasion campaign of Aestia was drafted while a massive armada was constructed in the shipyards across Aph.
The initial plan hinged on studying the failures of Rothis during the two failed invasions he had attempted, in so the priority was to first get as many troops landed on the mainland as possible, followed by a scorched earth policy around the city of Reynold without ever engaging the near impregnable defences of the city itself, cutting off its food supply and weakening its infrastructure and connection with the rest of Aestia.
Once Reynold capitulated the plan was to use it as a staging ground to launch assaults into Goroth, Poyneton, and eventually Matsu, which could be ransomed to their allies in the Aest for what was presumed to be a fortune.
The lands were to be divided in a way that hoped to be fair to the original powers who had founded the colonies, but inclusive to the lesser members of the Union.
Gimson would cede Poyneton to Centinaal, but would keep the valuable Firesands mining towns. Reynold would be split into Rivean and Wavenish districts and run as a semi autonomous city state with all revenues flowing back to Rivea and Waven equally.
Dacacia would similarly be ransomed back to Halasphora as to not insight tension, or would be ceded to them as a boon of contributing men and ships to the invasion force and cutting off Dacacia from aiding Reynold.
Goroth was deemed too radically different to be of much value and would be allowed a great deal of autonomy assuming they would sign non-aggression and trade treaties with the Union.
And the remainder of the countryside would be divided into States which could be governed by regional representatives from any nation of the Union that put forth a substantial enough contribution in funding and manpower towards the invasion, the larger the contribution the larger the state.
With these plans made, the fleet constructed, and an ambassador to Halasphora confirming they would aid the Aphalians to reclaim Dacacia, Grogramn’s hesitance regarding the war was quickly fading, however so was his health.
It was reported as Grogramn began to grow more and more ill that he would not be able to personally join the fleet, and instead the council would elect the Wavenish General and Lord Elector Trenton Acksontavian to be the primary commander of the force.
The first phase of the invasion had already begun before the force even began to mobilize however, a series of envoys and ambassadors had been sent to Reynold on behalf of the Union in Ea1180, they had offered the Aestians a great monetary boon and insurance of their goodwill to be granted permission to construct a series of “trading outposts” along the mostly uninhabited coastal plainsland south of the Reynold river, promising the Aestian representatives that this would serve as an arrest of Aphalian ambitions to reclaim whatever lands could be claimed.
The Aestians conferred and hesitantly accepted and granted the Aphalians permission to settle the coast, but immediately began reinvesting the money received into rearming the Aestian Armed Forces as a precautionary measure.
The Aphalians held to their word at first, constructing small outposts for resupply and trade with Reynold, but soon Dacacia reported seeing more and more transportation craft and military craft funneling into the shoddy ports, soon reports of Walls around these outposts began to spring up.
And as the Aestian delegation began to nervously ask Questions they had began to hear less and less as more and more ships dropped off cargo load after cargo load day in and day out.
Not knowing what was happening but uneased by the silence, eventually the Aesitan Prime Commander Havis Remson went against the word of the Aestian representatives and sent infiltrators to report back their findings inside these outposts.
They returned back in a panic, miles and miles of trenches lined the coast, obfuscating the view of the outposts and concealing a veritable city within them, tens of thousands of armed men bearing the colors of the nations of Aphal and Halasphora, this was an invasion force, at least one hundred thousand strong, already landed.
Immediately Havis called on the Aestian army to assemble, knowing that every day passed more men would land, he had the Aestian naval commity attempt to blockade further Aphalian ships but he knew this would only buy him so much time before the escalation was questioned.
Soon enough he was right, the Aphalians saw this provocation for what it was and realized their charade was at an end, formally declaring war on the Aestian Union as Thousands of men poured from the outposts and began seizing local farms and small villages under the Aphalian Flag.
Havis had no choice but to fall back from the front and abandon the coast, the force from Reynold and Goroth had met but Matsu and Poynes forces were still on the march, he had only 35000 men, outnumbered nearly 3 to 1.
Havis made a risky play, deciding that the Aphalians would not attempt a siege on Reynold he left the city manned by a shadow garrison and rode east to parle with the eastern Aestian forces, hoping he could slam into the Aphalians from the rear.
In the meantime however the Aphalians had begun to suffer a setback as they advanced further north.
The Aphalian army was technically under the command of Trenton Acksontavian, but as certain villages were seized with sizable groups of people from nations of Aphal, those sections of the Aphalian army hailing from those nations began to lag behind in those villages, stating they wanted to “deter flanking from the rear” but in truth bonding with their similar kinsmen, and beginning to fracture the armies sense of unitary goal.
Marred by confusion, corruption, and division it was kept relatively stable through the unifying despisal of the Wraiths.
However as that embers of that shared hatred began to die down, new and old animosities were set ablaze and would soon make hungry the peoples of Aph to right the injustices they had seen perpetrated both during the boundlord rule, and before and after.
The most notable war occurring late in the 23rd Age once the borders on the post-boundlord continents had been cemented was the Aphalia-Aestia War of Ea1186.
This war was a strange one from the onset, as ever since the union of Lord Electors and high Judges of Aphal had affirmed their authority and created the “4th Aphalian Union” , the question of the colonies established by Gimson and Rivea-Waven had become the primary issue of the council of Aeoporta, and the most contentious.
Grogramn, now old but no less resolute to not see the 4th Union dissolve, was keen to avoid the topic, stating that it could only insight division regarding the separation of lands, after all although Gimson and Rivea-Waven had been the primary bankrollers of their colonies abroad, many migrants from the other nations of Aphal and indeed greater Aph also now inhabited the continent.
This and the fact that it would surely be members of all of the nations of the union contributing men to reclaim territory and he knew that none of the non-colonial members of the assembly would be satisfied leaving without gains.
All of this debate neglected to mention that the Aestian Union had been a staunch ally and supporter of anti-boundlord rebel groups and had been instrumental in the eventual successful coup with the smuggling of poleguns and their designers and engineers.
Nonetheless the voices of Rivea and Waven in the council managed to drum up some support even outside of their own borders, and soon Rivea and Waven themselves threatened to withdraw support from the Union and pursue reunification on their own terms.
Grogramn was forced, begrudgingly, to concede, and a planned invasion campaign of Aestia was drafted while a massive armada was constructed in the shipyards across Aph.
The initial plan hinged on studying the failures of Rothis during the two failed invasions he had attempted, in so the priority was to first get as many troops landed on the mainland as possible, followed by a scorched earth policy around the city of Reynold without ever engaging the near impregnable defences of the city itself, cutting off its food supply and weakening its infrastructure and connection with the rest of Aestia.
Once Reynold capitulated the plan was to use it as a staging ground to launch assaults into Goroth, Poyneton, and eventually Matsu, which could be ransomed to their allies in the Aest for what was presumed to be a fortune.
The lands were to be divided in a way that hoped to be fair to the original powers who had founded the colonies, but inclusive to the lesser members of the Union.
Gimson would cede Poyneton to Centinaal, but would keep the valuable Firesands mining towns. Reynold would be split into Rivean and Wavenish districts and run as a semi autonomous city state with all revenues flowing back to Rivea and Waven equally.
Dacacia would similarly be ransomed back to Halasphora as to not insight tension, or would be ceded to them as a boon of contributing men and ships to the invasion force and cutting off Dacacia from aiding Reynold.
Goroth was deemed too radically different to be of much value and would be allowed a great deal of autonomy assuming they would sign non-aggression and trade treaties with the Union.
And the remainder of the countryside would be divided into States which could be governed by regional representatives from any nation of the Union that put forth a substantial enough contribution in funding and manpower towards the invasion, the larger the contribution the larger the state.
With these plans made, the fleet constructed, and an ambassador to Halasphora confirming they would aid the Aphalians to reclaim Dacacia, Grogramn’s hesitance regarding the war was quickly fading, however so was his health.
It was reported as Grogramn began to grow more and more ill that he would not be able to personally join the fleet, and instead the council would elect the Wavenish General and Lord Elector Trenton Acksontavian to be the primary commander of the force.
The first phase of the invasion had already begun before the force even began to mobilize however, a series of envoys and ambassadors had been sent to Reynold on behalf of the Union in Ea1180, they had offered the Aestians a great monetary boon and insurance of their goodwill to be granted permission to construct a series of “trading outposts” along the mostly uninhabited coastal plainsland south of the Reynold river, promising the Aestian representatives that this would serve as an arrest of Aphalian ambitions to reclaim whatever lands could be claimed.
The Aestians conferred and hesitantly accepted and granted the Aphalians permission to settle the coast, but immediately began reinvesting the money received into rearming the Aestian Armed Forces as a precautionary measure.
The Aphalians held to their word at first, constructing small outposts for resupply and trade with Reynold, but soon Dacacia reported seeing more and more transportation craft and military craft funneling into the shoddy ports, soon reports of Walls around these outposts began to spring up.
And as the Aestian delegation began to nervously ask Questions they had began to hear less and less as more and more ships dropped off cargo load after cargo load day in and day out.
Not knowing what was happening but uneased by the silence, eventually the Aesitan Prime Commander Havis Remson went against the word of the Aestian representatives and sent infiltrators to report back their findings inside these outposts.
They returned back in a panic, miles and miles of trenches lined the coast, obfuscating the view of the outposts and concealing a veritable city within them, tens of thousands of armed men bearing the colors of the nations of Aphal and Halasphora, this was an invasion force, at least one hundred thousand strong, already landed.
Immediately Havis called on the Aestian army to assemble, knowing that every day passed more men would land, he had the Aestian naval commity attempt to blockade further Aphalian ships but he knew this would only buy him so much time before the escalation was questioned.
Soon enough he was right, the Aphalians saw this provocation for what it was and realized their charade was at an end, formally declaring war on the Aestian Union as Thousands of men poured from the outposts and began seizing local farms and small villages under the Aphalian Flag.
Havis had no choice but to fall back from the front and abandon the coast, the force from Reynold and Goroth had met but Matsu and Poynes forces were still on the march, he had only 35000 men, outnumbered nearly 3 to 1.
Havis made a risky play, deciding that the Aphalians would not attempt a siege on Reynold he left the city manned by a shadow garrison and rode east to parle with the eastern Aestian forces, hoping he could slam into the Aphalians from the rear.
In the meantime however the Aphalians had begun to suffer a setback as they advanced further north.
The Aphalian army was technically under the command of Trenton Acksontavian, but as certain villages were seized with sizable groups of people from nations of Aphal, those sections of the Aphalian army hailing from those nations began to lag behind in those villages, stating they wanted to “deter flanking from the rear” but in truth bonding with their similar kinsmen, and beginning to fracture the armies sense of unitary goal.
