The Third Intermediate Period (482 AE 492 AE)

During the fighting, outbreak of the Second Rot Crisis due to a lack of oversight Sunas is sacked

Author's Notes

The Imperial War was a conflict fought in the wake of the Zanarid's withdrawal from their eastern territories. Fought for control over the Sunarian Empire, the war saw the powerful cities (and their allies) of Phernac, Sunas and Tome (The seat of a new Drumidian dynasty) fight for control over the territories of the Sunarian Empire, while out of the east, the new Kameti Empire, began a warpath to try and replace the Zanarids as the dominant power in the region. While they had thrown off the shackles of the Zanarids, the many city states of Sunar, did not get rid of their immediate governors, with most turning into king like figures in their respected cities in the years to come. This acceptance of Zanarid appointed rulers, would be the primary reason that in 1788 FD, The Kameti Empire crossed out of Emenis, and began another of its wars of liberation, upon the fractured cities of Sunar. Sunas in this period, would be one of the few cities to well and truly throw off Zanarid oppression in its entirety, banishing its Zanarid governor almost immediately in favor of a full blooded Sunarian, by the name of Amekh I, as their new emperor. Phernac was too making moves at this time to try and reforge some sort of Sunarian state. Led by a Zanarid general, turned Sunarian King, Jular I, the Phernaci, hoped to reforge the Empire, with Phernac as its capital, rather than Sunas. This goal, gained widespread support from the other cities of Upper Sunar, which had always played second fiddle to the more prosperous, and populated cities of the Sun Delta. The third and far weakest of the factions, Tome, also attempted for a time to build something out of the chaotic power vacuum of the Zanarid retreat, proclaiming a restored Drumidian Empire in 1789, only for that dream to be brought to a sudden and brutal end the following year outside the walls of Tome. Besieged by the armies of Kamet, in the opening weeks of the invasion, Tome put up a year long defense of the city, but ultimately collapsed to the expanding Kameti Empire. This defeat would serve as a warning to the remaining two factions in Phernac and Sunas, of the threat Kamet posed, and see Amekh and Jular combine their forces in 1791 at the battle of Reklips,where they would defeat the Kameti army and halt their advance. Turning on each other not long after, the war would carry on another three years, before in 1794 FD, they came together again to beat back a second Kameti invasion. Crushing the Kameti at the battle of Cambisis,, Amekh and Jular, turned on each other the following day, engaging in the bloodiest battle in Sunarian history, in which Jular would be killed and Amekh proclaimed the new emperor of a once more, united Sunar. The Third Intermediate Period erupted in the wake of a childless and brother-less emperor's death, and saw palace officials, generals, governors and tribal leaders, rise into petty warlords over their particular territories. Lasting 40 years, the conflict, would be immensely chaotic for the world as a whole, since Sunar had for decades, been the arbiter and bringer of peace. With its power in ruin, and the security it provided gone, war once more became the norm and in the half century it took for a strong emperor to reunite the fractured Empire, millions would die across the vast territory. Starting around 1990 FD, though, a particular warlord, from the North Shore of Belezine Bay, began to solidify his rule. Known as Kame, the man that would become Emperor, was born into a prominent family of merchants in the waning days of the Amekhanic period. So powerful was his family, that they had in these last few decades of peace, risen to become governors, over the city of Belecose. While a far cry from the larger cities across the Bay, Belecose was a regional hub, that was disconnected from the far larger and more hectic centers of warfare in Upper and Lower Sunar. For this reason, Kame was able to unite most of the North Shore within only a few short years of seizing power from his father, around 1970 FD. From there, he expanded his control on Belezine Bay, using the timberland of the North Shore to construct a larger fleet than any Sunar had yet seen; and led it up the Sun River in 1992 FD. Halting all forms of movement, up and down the river, Kame, rightfully recognized the reliance Sunar had on its main artery, the Sun River. Preventing this artery from flowing, destroyed what little trade their was, brought the transportation of food to a halt, and made the movement of individuals and armies, a excruciating crawl .While the tactic employed by Kame, brought him no great victory, victory was itself eventually guaranteed for him. Control over the Sun River, would slowly overtime, starve the struggling city states of the fractured Empire, to heel; as unruly mobs toppled more than a dozen warlords, without Kame ever needing to disembark. By the time he finally did begin his invasion proper, in 1998 FD, well over half the Empire was in disarray, with countless city's surrendering solely regain access to the blood line of Sunar. Despite his relatively easy, if time consuming, success, Kame brought yet unseen catastrophe to the Empire. Hundreds of thousands starved, as a direct result of him closing the Sun. This would be on top of the yet more casualties brought about through the Intermediate Period itself, and begin a decline in population that would only begin to recover in more recent times under the Fourth Empire.