Sunset War
The Sunset War was fought between the Valdoreians survivors of the Disaster of Unara, and the Kingdom of Epixus from 14 AG to 10 AG. The war ended when Hralldan Dawncaller and his companions switched sides to fight for the Valdoreians instead. This ended all support for King Turled, and legitimized Queen Ila Irdleliem cause. It ended in a White Peace, and King Turled agreed to create reserved areas of land for the Valdoreians to settle on.
Cause
Which side forced the conflict is a debated topic. The Valdoreians were infringing upon Epixian land, and the Valdoreian King Nandum ignored King Turled's wishes, leaving him no recourse other than to declare war on the refugees. However, it could also be argued that the Valdoreians could not have survived any further, and were already at their limits, so they had no choice other than to attempt to settle and hope it didn't spark a war.
Both sides could claim to have the rightful cause for war, which left no other option than for it to escalate as it did.
Conflict
Early battles
Irdleliem Meadow
The war's first battle, the Battle of Irdleliem Meadow was little more than a massacre, and is often referred to instead as the Irdleliem Meadow Massacre by Valdoreians. In 14 AG the Valdoreians had occupied a swath of empty land near the coast where they landed, owned by no one at the time. They thought this would be an acceptable compromise, however upon hearing of their construction of their "town", King Turled ordered it razed to the ground.
An army of the kingdom's mightiest knights, numbering at least two thousand if sources are to be believed, rode down on the town. They killed any who were occupying it and any who tried to stop them from torching the buildings. Many Valdoreians were killed in the initial charge, and many more burned alive in their makeshift huts that were still under construction.
A small line of spearmen formed as the Valdoreians reorganized, and managed to counter the second charge, but the damage had already been done. The fires lept from house to house, and the town was ablaze. Irdleliem Meadow, the name of the makeshift town, was merely ashes by the end of the day, and there were hundreds of dead Valdoreians, many more wounded, and only a handful killed from Epixus, a decisive first victory for Epixus.
It was discovered after the battle, as the Valdoreians tended the wounded and buried the dead, that King Nandum was killed in the first charge. This emboldened the Valdoreians, and strengthened Ila's resolve. King Turled was reportedly upset the King had been killed, and sent a messenger to apologize for the wrongful death of his Highness, but Ila reported to have never received such a messenger.
Boroughton
The days following the massacre, Ila spent time with her councillors, planning a counter attack. They settled on attacking the small halfling village of Boroughton nearby. It was mostly farmers and shepherds, and most likely undefended. It was not a strategic military target, and targeting it set the tone for the rest of the war. Ila wanted to send a message by targeting civilians instead of soldiers, just as the Epixian had done at Irdleliem Meadow.
Near midday, the Valdoreians stormed over the rolling green hills, murdering any halflings in sight, and torching their holes. The halflings had no time to form a resistance, and were slaughtered. No Valdoreians were killed, although a few were wounded in scuffles, and 250 halflings lay dead or mortally wounded by late afternoon. The Valdoreians retreated, and left Boroughton to burn.
Ila knew there would be retaliation for The Battle of Boroughton, so she had her people spread out over the Kingdom, attempting to blend in or hide out, in forests, cities, towns, mountains, and anywhere they could strike out from.
Mid-War
First Battle of Andsall
The battles of the mid-war were mostly not pitched battles like the early war and late war, they were instead guerilla conflicts, fought in towns, city streets, and wilderness. For most of the mid-war, it was a war of intelligence officers, attempting to detect and prevent attacks before they happened, or shut down Valdoreian insurgent rings.
However, there were a few major skirmishes that lasted several days, and were far more organized and complicated than even the pitched battles were, as it required pinpoint ambushes, defending, and counter-attacks. They only lasted a few minutes at a time, but would occur regularly over days until one side gained the upper-hand or accomplished their objective.
The first major conflict of this type, was the First Battle of Andsall in 13 AG. It was a retaliatory strike for the death of King Nandum. The ring of Valdoreians that was formed in the capital of Andsall, plotted to assassinate King Turled. They knew his carriage would be travelling through the city streets early in the morning, as he was returning from a vacation to a summer palace.
There appeared to be some mix-up about the King's arrival, however, and he was late by a few hours, so the assassins missed their opportunity by attacking the wrong carriage. They did assault the guards on the road into town, killing a dozen before reinforcements had time to react, but the carriage they had attacked was merely that of a Noble, who did not survive the attack. The Valdoreians failed attempt did alert the guards to their presence in the city, and inadvertantly increased the King's own protection.
When the King did finally arrive in the city, the Valdoreians attempted again, with a much larger force to match the increased protection around the King, but the guards managed to get the King to safety, and managed to kill a half a dozen Valdoreians as well. Just as many guards lay dead, but the King was safely back in the castle but the time the skirmish was over. The Valdoreians had missed their chance for revenge, but it would not be their only attempt.
Battle of Karngon
The Battle of Karngon was an attempt made my dwarven Valdoreians to seize control of the primarily dwarven city, in the foothills of Eastern Epixus. In the middle of the night, several assassins made their way into the town council chambers where a council was being held, and covered the room in a magical darkness. They then killed them all, and exited before anyone knew what happened.
The guards of the town were tripled, but emergency elections had to be held, and through corruption and manipulation, Valdoreian dwarves were primarily those elected to the new council. There was some unnerved mumblings among the townsfolk about these newcomers being elected to their town, but a few well placed bribes quieted any discontent and the town became the first stronghold of Valdorei in Veland.
Second Battle of Andsall
The Second Battle of Andsall was much smaller in scale to the first, and was fought entirely in Andsall Castle. It was another assassination attempt against King Turled in 12 AG. A small squad of assassins infiltrated the castle through an open window, and killed several guards before they were discovered and promptly arrested. This was the last attempt on King Turled's life made by the Valdoreians for the remainder of the war.
The Battle of the Yellow Field
The battle of the Yellow Field was the first pitched battle fought during the Mid-War period. It was also the first battle in which Hralldan Dawncaller and his companions participated. They were instrumental in the battle, and won it nearly single handedly. It's reported that the three of them were able to wipe out nearly the entire defending Valdoreian army nearly single handedly.
Ilyana Torcaryn was especially useful, as it was the first time a Wizard, at the time considered researchers and academics more-so than soldiers, and she single-handedly killed over two hundred of the Valdoreians.
Hralldan and Jorga Greywing took down a couple hundred as well between them. It was considered a brutal victory for the Epixians. From that moment on, the companions were solidifed as legends, and were in the vanguard of every pitched conflict for the remainder of the war.
The Battle of Ocklens
Ocklens was a town in central Epixus, but the Battle of Ocklens destroyed it. Most of the blame fell on Ilyana, who lacked restraint with her abilities.
After their devestating loss at the Yellow Field, Ila and her generals strategized on how to deal with the new threat of Hralldan and his companions. It focused on Ilyana, and preventing her from casting spells, so they chose an urban setting, and focused on pincering the back line to get to her.
When the battle began, the Valdoreians gave up ground in their center to allow the Epixians to advance into the town, while their flanks disappeared down narrow alleyways where they could hold easier, and looped their troops back around the town and hit the flank where Ilyana was located. Her guards were slaughtered, and she was wounded in the fighting. Hralldan and Jorga abandoned the frontline to head back to her calls for help, and made it just in time. They managed to force the attackers back, but in her frustration, she threw out Meteor swarms across the town, killing soldiers from both sides indiscriminantly. The Valdoreians were trapped behind enemy lines, and retreated out of the town as it burned, citizens, Valdoreians, and Epixian soldiers, altogether.
The battle is considered a victory for Valdorei, although they lost as many troops as Epixus. Most of those troops killed died in the fires that engulfed the town.
This battle was considered the turning point from Mid-war to Late war, as while between Yellow Field and Ocklens there were other less-important skirmishes, the battles turned entirely into pitched battles after, as the Valdoreians felt more cornered as their insurgent rings were broken up across the Kingdom.
Late War
Battle of Ifriot
The Late War period was the bloodiest part of the war, entirely because of the Battle of Ifriot. They say this battle is what turned the tide in Valdorei's favor, as it was the first major military victory against Hralldan's companions. It was fought on the outskirts of the town of Ifriot. The two armies camped opposite each other for several days, changing formations, and watching to see what their opponents would do, until the Valdoreians were ready to attack.
They marched towards the opposing army, just as the sun rose behind them in the early morning. When the sun's light peaked over the horizon and began shining towards the Epixian lines, the Valdoreians charged. The clash was supposedly heard from miles away. Hralldan and Jorga were instructed to stay farther back to protect Ilyana after the disasterous Battle of Ocklens.
The two armies fought fiercly for nearly an hour, as the sun rose higher in the sky. Ilyana attempted to use more precise fireballs to target the enemy and conserve her abilites. However, as the sun rose higher in the sky, they heard thundering behind them. Valdoreian cavalry rode down on the flank, held until late in the battle when both armies would be too tired to change formation. The cavalry overwhelmed Hralldan's companions, wounding all three severely, but they were carried to safety. Once they were unconscious, the Valdoreians routed the remainder of the Epixian troops.
In total, 3000 men and women died on the battlefield. 400 Valdoreians and 2600 Epixian, a sure victory for the Valdoreians.
Assassination of Ila
Jorga, after recovering from his wounds, was beginning to get tired of the bloody losses that were being suffered, and being driven by an anger over the Butchering of Boroughton, he came to the conclusion that Ila needed to be the one to fall to break the Valdoreians' spirit. So he gathered information and plotted it all out, Hralldan and Ilyana assisted as much as they could, as they too were tiring of the war.
However, when the moment finally came for Jorga to assassinate Ila, Jorga instead fell deeply in love with her. Ila told him the story of her people and their tragedies, and pleaded with him to end the war, for both their people's sake.
He convinced his companions to stop the fighting, and the three of them agreed to help Ila and the Valdoreians instead.
Third Battle of Andsall
The third and final Battle of Andsall, was also the final battle of the war in the year 10 AG. The full Valdoreian army came to a halt just out of range of Andsall's defenses. Ila, Hralldan, Jorga, and Ilyana rode out ahead of the force towards the walls, and the forces that were forming on the walls and behind it immediately began to disorganize. The gates were thrown open, and the Valdoreian forces were allowed into the city without a fight. Ila and the companions travelled up to Andsall Castle, where upon hearing of his army's surrender, King Turled agreed to speak with Ila about a peace treaty.
Peace
The peace treaty was signed that same day, and was a mutually agreed upon White Peace. Turled would carve out reservations on his land for the Valdoreians to settle and grow, and the Valdoreians agreed to not interfere with Epixus or its culture. The fighting ceased, and parties broke out across the kingdom. Feasts and celebrations lasted for days, Epxian and Valdoreian alike celebrating together.
The peace was respected by both parties, and they managed to live in mutual harmony for the remainder of Queen Ila's rule.
Consequences
The consequences of the war were far stretching. It had raged for 4 long years across the kingdom, with towns and people burned and killed, civilian or soldier made no difference. It affected everyone from the highest Noble to the poorest peasant. It was one of the bloodiest wars fought on the continent of Veland. The end of the war was considered anticlimactic for many of the families who lost loved ones in the fighting, but its outcome provided peace for the Kingdom for decades to come.
Eventually, it even allowed the Valdoreians a place to expand into when they were given permission to leave the reservations many hundreds of years later. It also allowed several other kingdoms to form, shaping the world and echoing into future conflicts and diplomacy.
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