The Thousand Year War

"There were still bones on the mountainside. For a thousand years of war, Pharaul had never once cleared the corpses from the slope. Let Cradsoun’s infantrymen scramble over their own dead, their cavalry ride over the skulls of their ancestors, and let them know that their military history was a thousand years of futile struggle and loss. Then let them join it."

- "Maniaque" Chapter 22: Mother's Blessings

An accidental incursion led to a conflict that grew out of control, consuming cultures and changing the course of history for all of eastern Sof Sator. After a millennia of bloodshed and hate, looking back, is there anyone left who cares why it all began?
This conflict involves, either directly or indirectly, many of Sof Sator's world powers. It has primarily been fought by Anthrals. The Nor Sator League, including Cradsoun, Gray Watch, the Aldalneld Writhe, a number of independent Aldos peoples throughout the Starmire, and New Ossea, contends with the Rhyqir Valley Alliance, including the Laines, Pharaul, Vont, and a number of independent Rhyqir and Ayqir peoples throughout the Aegis Mountains. More recently, the Rhyqir Valley Alliance has joined the Greater Sabine Trade Compact, giving them a powerful economic alliance with most of the rest of Sof Sator, particularly Gray Watch's ancient rivals in Revan, which has isolated the Nor Sator League and threatens to bring the way to its long-due conclusion.

164UC - 120UC: The Green Word's Reply

In the year 164UC, frontiersmen from Cradsoun entered the Rhyqir Valley in an attempt to strike up relations with the uncontacted Rhyqir tribes therein; this was an extension of an outreach policy that had already created a network of contacts throughout the Starmire and Aegis Mountains. However, the deepwood tribes of the Rhyqir Valley were under the zealous protection of the Laines, and the armies of the Laines retalliated to this trespass with a ruthless counter-invasion.
The resulting violence was called the Starmire Conflict by Cradsoun, and called the Green Word's Reply by the Laines. Over the next four decades, the conflict escalated into the Starmire War. Pharaul joined with the Laines to form the Rhyqir Valley Alliance in 120UC, and they began to call the conflict the Aegis War at this time.

120UC - 500CR: The Starmire War and the Aegis War

Vont had a long history of conflict with the Aldenald Writhe. At the time that Gray Watch joined the war in 68UC (forming the Nor Sator League), the Writhe was still seen more as a nest of monsters than as a naval power. Neither the Laines nor Pharaul had naval power in the Starlost Expanse, and no ships from southern Sof Sator sailed the Writhesea. Gray Watch's naval excursions were mostly to move goods and troops to the eastern coast; the Laines and Pharaul contended with the results of this unchecked naval activity on the ground. Vont refused to intervene.
For several hundred years, war was fought mostly throughout the Starmire and the Aegis Mountains. The Starmire War had devastating outcomes for the Mire peoples (scattered clans of sollin omnivates of the Aldos ethnic group, from whom most Writhwives originate), who were hired or otherwise pressed into service by the Nor Sator League. Similarly, the Aegis War was a long nightmare for the peoples of the Aegis Mountains, which were hardy enclaves of littorn carnivates related to the Rhyqir people of the Laines, or fish-eating Alpin carnivates related to the Ayqir people of Vont. By the year 500CR, most of these settlements had been reduced to places of tactical importance to be won and lost, or had been wiped out. Refugees of these populations formed small communities in what larger cities would accept them.

500CR - 529CR: The Battle for Vatost Cape

In 505CR, Vont and Pharaul formed an economic alliance and close cultural ties. Pharaul had begun to move away from the use of magic and its practice of nature worship was beginning to become unpopular. The technology of Vont became appealing, with steam to heat buildings and power infrastructure. Overland trains were constructed to connect Pharaul to Vont, and large pipes carried heated steam from Vont to provide power and heat to Pharaul.
Gray Watch, wishing to hamper Pharaul's transition to more modern infrastructure, launched a naval attack on Vont in 522CR. Vont largely rebuffed this attack. When Vont attempted to pursue Gray Watch's retreating vessels, the Aldaneld Writhe emerged in their defense, leading to a calamitous naval battle beneath the cliffs of Vatost Cape along the Aegis Mountains. At this time, Vont had yet to fully integrate their engineering into their naval vessels; arguably, the loss of half their fleet created the opportunity to revolutionize their approach to shipbuilding in the following years. In response to this battle, Vont formally joined the Aegis War and declared that the Aldaneld Writhe would be treated as an ally of Gray Watch. The Aldaneld Writhe thought that Vont was overreacting, but did take on a national charter and join the Nor Sator Leage in 525CR. Thanks in part to the Wirthe's confusion, Vont was given adequate time to rebuild a much stronger fleet. As Vont began to sail northward and aggressively claim coastal holdings, the Writhe slowly realized that Vont was out for blood. In 529, the Writhe launched its first counter-offensive, grudgingly joining the war.

530CR - 920CR: A War on Three Fronts

Outside of a few dramatic campaigns that sought to change the shape of the war, the conflict became an equilibrium of three fronts. The front lines of the Warring Lands moved constantly between the foothills of the Aegis Mountains and the vast Starmire; here, Cradsoun infantry and operatives of Gray Watch clashed with the soldiers of Pharaul and rangers from the Laines. On the borders of the Rhyqir Valley and the slope of Meidr in the Rhyqirja Mountains, infrequent incursions of Cradsoun's special forces or boldly aggressive battalions battled with Pharaul's city garrison and a new home guard in the Laines which took on the name of the Green Word's Reply. In the Eating Sea, the Starlost Expanse, the Writhesea, and the Aldwash, Vont contends with a monstrous foe that deifes understanding; their steamships hunt the Writhe's grim confidants, they burn roils off the coast, and their agents execute suspected writhewives.

920CR - 1085CR: The First and Second Ossean Campaigns

In the far west of Sof Sator, Revan and the Kingdom of the Golden Reef conducted the Ossean Campaign in 920CR. Cradsoun was a trading partner of Revan at this time, but they sent a token defensive force to aid the Osseans. Gray Watch, feeling some comradery with Redfall Reach (which was also a former colony of Revan), also sent a few token sailors out of goodwill. However, all of these forces were destroyed, and Cradsoun's relationship with Revan turned toward hostility in a moment.
Following the extermination of the Osseans, some few improbably survivors established New Ossea east of Arin. These Osseans joined the Nor Sator League in 997CR. These Osseans were the first to call the expansive conflict the Thousand Year War, as they began to provide alchemical and medical support to Cradsoun. This small, struggling nation made only an indirect impact on the war before a second campaign led by the Golden Reef completed their extermination in 1085CR. The Nor Sator League was unable to provide assistance or safe harbor; as of this event, Osseans are believed to be extinct.

1086 CE - Present: Nor Sator Stands Alone

In part because of Revan's indirect contributions to this blow to the Nor Sator League, the allied nations of the Rhyqir Valley Alliance joined the Revan-led trade agreement, the Greater Sabine Trade Compact, in 1088CR. This posed the Rhyqir Valley Alliance as the direct ally of most nations in Sof Sator, which very quickly isolated the Nor Sator League from external trade partners. Within months, the commercial impact began to have a critical effect on Cradsoun and Gray Watch, who were still recovering from the loss of New Ossea. For the first time, it seemed possible that the Thousand Year War could soon some to an end.

Continental War

Duration: 1154+ years

Combatants

Nor Sator League

• Cradsoun
• Gray Watch 
• The Aldalneld Writhe
• New Ossea
• Aldos of the Starmire

Rhyqir Valley Alliance

• The Laines
• Pharaul
• Vont
• Rhyqir of the Aegis
• Ayqir of the Aegis

Primary Battlegrounds

• The Starmire
• The Aegis Mountains
• The Rhyqir Valley
• The Rhyqirja Mountains
• The Writhesea
• The Starlost Expanse

Notable Battles

• The Rhyqir Incursion
• The Green Word's Reply
• Battles for the Meidr Slope
• The Strike on Vont
• The Battle for Vatost Cape

Start Date

164UC