The Tharrisian War is the generally accepted name for the large, continent wide conflict that saw nearly every Fallen City and nation drawn into a war with or on the side of Tharrisia. It is considered part of the Year of the Dragon and is perhaps that years defining conflict.
While some scholars consider The Conquest of the Gallows Isle part of the Tharrisian War, it is generally agreed to be a prelude conflict instead of a part of it.
Once Tharrisia had taken the Gallows Isle, they did not waste time moving forward with their objectives. While nominally egged on by Sernita Verro, a rising star in Tharrisian politics, its not understood that much of the strategic decision making was pushed by Aenophentari, the last White Dragon.
The first part of the war was the bloodless take over of Pouton. Tharrisia and Pouton had enjoyed good relations for years, but everyone (except apparently the Tharrisians) were shocked when the king of Pouton died and his will stated that the kingdom would become a part of Tharrisia. Capitalizing on the opportunity Tharrisia soon sent several legions of troops to enforce the will and take the nation. It was mostly a bloodless takeover, as few were willing to argue with either the ex-king or the armed legions.
Next, Tharrisia used Pouton as a staging ground to invade Forelenium in the early parts of 756. The invasion of Forelenium was resisted hard by the Foreleni, especially the siege of Aeraguard, which went on for nearly two full seasons, but eventually they could not resist the press of the legions and fell. At the same time, the 16th legion under the command of Loukas Pardontis, traveled east and began attacking The Nation of Ghosts, which was able to put up some resistance with the aid of Norixius Karen Impulsive and Idiomar's Reformers.
What happened next though, was something of a surprise. Egged on by The Wayfarers, the nations of Aurelia, Embrel, Heldir, Straka and later Atresa all declared war on Tharrisia to, allegedly, put them back into place. Though the real reason was to stop Aenophentari from completing his plan.
Fighting broke out across the continent on several different fronts. The climactic battle of the war though, is generally agreed to be the Battle of 14 Nations, where an allied army and tharrisian army met in a particularly bloody battle in The Nation of Ghosts. That battle, and the smaller offshoot in the City of the Dead, saw the death of Aenophentari and much of his leading cabal.
The war would go on for several months though, until Sernita Verro was outed as a puppet of Aenophentari and her party began to lose membership and popularity in favor of Octavian Ghiacciato's Rinascita party. At which point Verro was thrown from power and Tharrisia came to the negotiating table with the other nations in Olbern to discuss a peace deal.
Negotiations took nearly a full season, concluding with portioning of territory, but Tharrisia keeping most of its gains. Despite the ill feelings surrounding the conference generally, most people were just happy to see the war end.
The Conflict
Prelude
Generally it is agreed that The Conquest of the Gallows Isle was a prelude to the war, and looking at military records reinforces this as Tharrisian commanders worried that any efforts of conquest that involved seaborne logistics would be harassed by pirates from the isle. With the Gallows Isle subdued though, and the king of Pouton giving them a literal invitation, Tharrisia couldn't help but move forward in their eyes. Of course, there is the matter of Aenophentari, and it is now known that he pushed Sernita Verro especially hard to invade the various nations, and could have played a part in the death of the King of Pouton, but it is also agreed that with our without Aenophentari the situation in Pouton and the Gallows Isle were nearly inevitable. With the taking of Pouton, Tharrisia now had a good base of operations from which to operate in the mid-continent. Not to mention tons of new conscripts for their auxiliary forces. Siege engines and other war machines were quickly built or transported, and prepared to cross the river into Forelenium. The Foreleni, for their part, did not seem to be overly suspicious of the Tharrisian's, a major strategic oversight.
The Engagement
The Tharrisian's quickly overwhelmed the Foreleni border and its guard, diving deep into their territory before a response could be formed. By the time a response did appear it was too little too late against the legions of Tharrisia. Instead of defense, the Foreleni army soon found itself in a desperate rear guard action as loyal soldiers and forces retreated to the capital of Aeraguard. At the same time, dozens of cities and regions simply declared for Tharrisia, seeing which way the wind was blowing.
Sernita Verro and her legions found themselves at the gates of Aeraguard within two months, and prepped for a siege. Tharrisian's were experts in Fallen City sieges so the fall of Aeraguard was considered to be an easy task. This proved to not be the case as the Foreleni put up a dogged fight that lasted seasons. The big factor turned out to be necromancy, as the ruling Dragon Council of Forelenium had no problem authorizing its mages and wizards to raise the dead, Foreleni and Tharrisia alike, to swell its ranks. The undead needed no food, no morale, and no equipment, they could be sent, wave after wave, at the Tharrisian's to slow them down. When the Tharrisian's were tired, actual Foreleni soldiers could strike.
During the siege, the 16th Legion peeled off and headed into The Nation of Ghosts of ghosts, allegedly to annex it as well as it was a "lawless and stateless" region, but more specifically to find the Aithero Monopati for Aenophentari.
In the end though, supported by new siege cannons from Jarak, the walls of Aeraguard were breached and the city fell. The legions began the process of conquest consolidation, while several legions prepared to head east to support the 16th.
This course of action was interrupted by a sudden declaration of war by Aurelia, Embrel, Heldir, Straka and later Atresa. Egged on by The Wayfarers, these nations united in alliance against Tharrisia. Allegedly to stop the blatant land grabbing, but in reality to stop whatever plan Aenophentari had for the mystical Aithero Monopati.
Tharrisia suddenly found itself pressured on multiple fronts. The original intention to take a lot of the conquering legions east to The Nation of Ghosts was halted, as the legions were split up.
Two legions, led by Sernita Verro, headed east to support the 16th as planned. Meanwhile two legions headed west, to the Foreleni border with Embrel, and three legions headed south to the Poutonese border with Heldir. Back home in Tharrisia proper, the home defense legions and auxiliaries reinforced the border Tharrisia shared with both Aurelia and Embrel.
The first battle in the war was actually the conclusion of The Dragonborn Civil War, which is somewhat tied to the events of the Tharrisian War due to the manipulations of Aenophentari.
While the various armies of the nations marched to war, an unheard of amount of airships gathered around Starmont Allod and loaded up with soldiers from every allied nation to head east, to The Nation of Ghosts to halt Aenophentari and the 16th legion. The Wayfarers headed first, discovering both the long lost Tomb of the Eternal Queen, as well as an ongoing battle between Idiomar's Reformers against the 16th Legion. Upon their arrival they dived deep into the Tomb, killing Loukas Pardontis and another of Aenophentari's lieutenants.
Around this time, a squadron of Virnosian warships, led by Commodore Pleri and Gareth Pancem arrived at the shore where the battle between Idiomars Reformers and the Scout Auxiliary of the 16th was ongoing. They soon unloaded marines, Green Guard, and other soldiers to reinforce the reformers and quickly turned the 16th away. Not too long after, the massive airfleet from Starmont arrived.
Concurrently with the skirmish in the Nation of Ghosts, a large battle squadron of Ithalin ships arrived to the recently conquered Gallows Isle and launched a raid against one of the Tharrisian strongholds on the island, destroying an arcane crystal that had been blocking sending magic throughout Kalin. Their fleet also arrived off the coast of Heldir, driving away and destroying the last of the pirates from The Conquest of the Gallows Isle that had been harassing the Heldir coastline.
With the arrival of the transport air-fleet to the Nation of Ghosts battle became inevitable. To bring down Aenophentari as fast as possible, The Wayfarers planned to take a small force and travel to the City of the Dead, where the Aithero Monopati was thought to be, while the rest of the allied army took on Tharrisia and its auxiliaries. This battle would become known as The Battle of 14 Nations and is generally accepted to be one of the bloodiest and most horrific battles up to that point in the Second Age.
Concurrently with the Battle of 14 Nations there was also the Battle of 14 Nations in Starmont Allod, which was a decisive Embrel-Aurelian victory, as well as a group of skirmishes along the Heldir border now known as the Battle of Six Pinpricks.
While The Battle of 14 Nations was ultimately a tactical draw, the Wayfarers succeeded in killing Aenophentari and closing off the Aithero Monopati. The 16th Legion and its reinforcements soon withdrew from the Nation, seeing no purpose in wasting the manpower any further.
The allied army soon returned to their constituent nations, and The Wayfarers returned back to Starmont Allod in victory.
After the victory celebration the war continued. Within a month the Ithali and Tharrisian ships would have their first major naval battle off the coast of Heldir in the Battle of Two Winds ending in a draw (and would also be the last major engagement by Ithali forces during the war), while Heldir would suffer a disastrous defeat during the Battle of Bragan Hill. Two months after the defeat of Aenophentari the Tharrisians would attempt a piercing invasion of Embrel, nearly succeeding to drive towards the fallen city itself until Aurelian pressure on the Tharrisian border forced a retreat.
Following these three major battles most of the fighting would devolve into skirmishes and overland campaigns instead of set-piece battles. Work would be done in the shadows though, as Jayllin Tano and Evoda Vitri, along with some help from The Green Guard, Aurelian Spy Networks, and the Bronze Kobolds of Tharrisia, would begin to spread the word that Sernita Verro was a servant of Aenophentari and owed all her success to him. They would also help Octavian Ghiacciato, Octavia Ghiacciato's father, in roundabout ways win support for his rising Rinascita party.
The political situation in Tharrisia would hit critical mass during the Autumn of 756, when Sernita Verro finally lost control of the Senatus and was thrown from power. This was quickly followed up with a political purge that saw most of her still loyal supporters arrested (and often times executed) while she herself vanished and went on the run. This was quickly followed by requests from Tharrisia for peace discussions.
The peace discussions took place on Olbern, a neutral state, and took nearly a full season of back and forth between the various nations. Tharrisia wanted to keep all of its conquests, including those made in Heldir and parts of The Nation of Ghosts, whereas many allied nations wanted Tharrisia pushed back to its original territory, with certain parties even demanding Tharrisia give up The Gallows Isle and even Singlar.
In the end though, to make peace, a compromise was reached, land partitioned, and the brief but bloody war ended.
Outcome
In the compromise, it was determined that Tharrisia would keep Pouton as, though it may have had some suspicion around it, the dead king did indeed sign over the nation in his will to Tharrisia and many had confirmed that the will had been drawn up many years prior to his death. They would also keep the Gallows Isle in its entirety, as no one else could actually think of settling it nor a good reason to not give it to the Tharrisian's, who had ultimately done the world a service. Forelenium would be split, with all land east of the Halteri river going to Norixius Karen Impulsive new nation of the Ager Terrena Idiomaris, and all land to the west to Embrel being declared a jointly ruled nation between Embrel and Tharrisia until such a time as Tharrisia relinquished its claim or the land itself decided to join Tharrisia. All other conquests were returned to their rightful owners.
The war also saw widespread destruction across much of the western continent. Forelenium, especially the region around Aeraguard, had been thoroughly smashed to pieces and its population in great distress. Heldir found its border with Pouton to be the sight of a lot of fighting, and Embrel found itself greatly harmed in terms of manpower and ability after both the war and the preceding demon invasion. Recovery for many of these regions would take years, and in some cases is still ongoing.
Aftermath
The Tharrisian War, the larger extended Year of the Dragon saw dramatic changes to the continent of Kalin. Pouton and Forelenium ceased to exist as independent kingdoms, as they were either absorbed or divided up. Following the conflict also saw the partition of The Nation of Ghosts, with its western portion willingly joining Norixius Karen Impulsive's new nation, and its southern and eastern parts being annexed by Atresa via Ibrim.
Despite the united front so many nations gave to Tharrisia, it is debated that Tharrisia could've kept fighting on for years. The war proved that Tharrisia was a rising force on the continent in a way that concerned more than its immediate neighbors. Adding to its power by having footholds in the central continent only added to Tharrisia's power and authority. And while western Forelenium was technically co-ruled by Tharrisia and Embrel, Embrel would relinquish its control less than 5 years after the conflict due to not having the military power to enforce the co-rule.
The conflict also showed the newfound power of Atresa in the east. Atresan military assets combined with Virnosian technomancy and technology proved to be a potent combination, as Atresan soldiers and units, pound for pound, inflict far more casualties than any other military unit barring certain mages and Embrellian battlemage units.
There was, finally, the increasing in status of Aurelia. While a well respected nation for years, the aftermath of the war saw Aurelia diplomatically tied to most of the continent thanks to The Wayfarers. Aurelian diplomats had spots of recognition and honor in almost every court, and could gather the ear of almost any leader if they needed to, an advantage that Tharrisian did not earn after the war (quite the opposite).
Historical Significance
Legacy
The war has become the seminal event in the Year of the Dragon and is often cited as the largest conflict the continent had seen since the War of the Torva 7 centuries prior. Almost every nation on the continent was touched in some way, and the after effects of the conflict can seen both in the social and political landscape of the common day.
Included Conflicts
Start Date
Winter, 755 2A
Ending Date
Winter, 756 2A
Conflict Result
Treaty of Olbern, Tharrisia keeps most of its pre-alliance involvement land gains. Aenophentari defeated.
