"The Wet Jest"

Origin

The Hamburgian dynasty (later known as the Noxillian empire) acquired it's first coastal province in the year 1035 with the recent acquisition of the major port town of Borja (Boar-Ha) and had yet to taste any naval warfare. Initially they decided to invest heavily in naval merchant contacts, in order to fully capitalize on their new naval asset. They began to pay out neutral merchant lords in order to "enter the scene" of the open sea. This angered the nearby nation of the Jade empire, famous for their naval power, and their national plight to be the true lords of the waves. Skirmishes broke out, and the Jade empire began a rigorous campaign to capture any ship with goods heading towards Borja, or any captain who sought Hamburgian gold. The merchant lords soon began to realize there was profit to be had, and decided to fund both sides of this "cold war" and decided to surrender willingly to the jades, and demand refunds from the Hamburgian's, since it was their fault they were getting raided.

"The Wet Jest"

The Hamburgian's were new to naval warfare, and the Jade's possessed advance seafaring technology, their ships were faster, their sailors were more experienced, and only 1 out of every twenty Hamburgian ships could boast having a single ballista while the Jade had already equipped theirs with Ballistae which could swivel to target vessels and reel them in for boarding. This is where the famous Hamburgian ingenuity came into play, while they lacked advance ships, they possessed many of the most powerful mages alive. Wizards were payed hundreds of gold to safeguard ships, Druids began to control the waves and create wind for the sails, and if push came to shove a well placed fireball could annihilate any ship who dared attempt to reel them in. The jade couldn't compete with the massive firepower of their new enemy in terms of magic, so they simply equipped ballista which outranged the casters on the enemy vessels. This led to the Hamburgian's to beseech the merchant lords for mercenary assistance, which they supplied... to both sides. The actual blood shed between the two nations was kept minimal just out of the sheer threat of a full scale war neither wanted to truly participate in so, they eventually began to simply pay mercenary groups to fight each other. This began what was known as the greatest pseudo-conflict in history, known as the " The Wet Jest " because mercenaries soon began to simply lie to their employers about battles in the open sea. Companies would meet in open water and play card games, contests of skill, and sometimes even a simple game of "boulder parchment shears" over who would report to their benefactors a successful voyage, and who would redecorate the ship, and enlist with the other side of the conflict under a new mercenary company name. The Jade soon found out about these charades and laughed about it in court, because the Hamburgian's were still spending several times more on these endeavors. When the Hamburgian God-king found out he became enraged, and sought new allies other than the treacherous merchants, the Yutuk tribesmen.

Tribal Allies

The Yutuk are a tribal people, very traditional but extremely friendly to all who enter their horrifying coastal woodland home inhabited by all sorts of malicious fey, and wildlife that is almost exclusively carnivorous. These rough people were not considered adults until they accomplished a ritualist hunting trip, which ranged from killing owlbears to cutting the ears off a fey and letting it live. These tribes all boasted impressive Canoe-like ships, which being made of a unique fey-enchanted wood, are nearly invisible when placed atop water. Already on good terms with the Hamburgian dynasty for conquering the aggressive city-state of Borja, they readily agreed to help in the war in exchange for gems from the Hamburgian mines, which are entirely absent from the Yutuk's forests but were useful for honoring their god. The tribesmen were brutally effective, able to manifest seemingly out of thin air and ambush the unsuspecting jade ships, and even contend with any mercenaries which didn't have the good sense to check out of the conflict any sooner. They were also known to sneak up close to the unsuspecting ships and have the village shamans use magic to smash holes into the hull and sink the vessel so they could kill the sailors while they panickily tried to stop their ship from sinking. A few warriors would stay in the canoes and stab out at any swimming enemies while the rest would climb aboard the vessel and kill as many quietly as possible. This led to legends of captains waking up from a peaceful night's rest with no living crew left and being stranded in open water alone, this is somewhat supported by the extremely dark humor found in many Yutuk tribesmen.

Resolution

The conflict came to a close when the princess of the Jade empire was taken hostage in a cunning raid led by the god-kings own son, one of the most powerful sorcerers to have ever lived. In addition to the capture the prince, nicknamed "Wildfyre" after this raid, was able to light ablaze the largest Jade armada ever assembled simply due to the Yutuk sneaking him close enough to unleash his magical payload upon the unsuspecting Sailors. The Jade princess is still held in a Hamburgian prison to this day, forcing the Jade empire to agree to a ceasefire while they arrange for either a rescue mission or a ransom large enough.

The Conflict

Outcome

Many mercenaries got used to hiring wizards, and thus the position of quartermaster is usually filled by a spell caster of some kind and is a profession discussed and encouraged at many mage guilds, and mage academies.

Aftermath

Jade have a deep hatred for the Yutuk, they were shocked and enraged by the "uncivilized" ambushes they did, while the Jade would capture ships with as few casualties as possible on both sides. This also led to the Jade empire to be distrustful of the Noxillian empire, they did not expect them to ally with such savages, and even contend that the whole conflict was initiated simply to prove to the expansionistic Hamburgians that the Jade should not be trifled with, not to start a war.

Conflict Type

War

Conflict Result

The capture of the Jade princess, and a pacification of the hostile Jade navy.