Battle of the Gate
The Conflict
Prelude
Following the destruction of Khzet in the Year 1177, the Dwarven settlement was burned to the ground by the Gnomes of the Mhuzelti Empire. The foundations broken apart, the towers felled, and the roads deconstructed. A town known only on the maps these days. The Bloody Endeavor being the day the Gnomish Empire had had enough of the Dwarves encroaching on the City of Split Rock on the mainland.
Despite the Dwarves being on the continent and encroaching on a Galacian City when the Former King of Galus: Roi Berthelot had been attempting to make strong alliances with the Dwarves. For the Mhuzelti Empire to march on Galacian soil to destroy the second Dwarven City was an incredible insult to the Crown. When The Dwarves began their invasion of the Isle in retaliation, to avenge the lake of Dwarven blood spilled in the Massacre, Roi had set his armies to block both Huron and the Caliphate from intervening.
Battlefield
Three main battlefields are present in the conflict; The Alpine Rise, the Valley, and then the Gate Towers.
The Alpine Rise:
This is the only section of the conflict that had direct Galacian assistance, where the Dwarves assaulted the fortresses of the Coastline and quickly took Split Rock securing their beachhead. Galus had spent their time reinforcing the City while the Dwarves hunkered down just at the mouth of the Valley. Daring the Gnomes to come and become the feat to a proverbial meat grinder of Trenches and no-mans-land.
The Valley:
Despite the Dwarves and their strong front at the mouth of the Valley, they faced the same issue as the Gnomes. To enter the Valley is the same as entering a shooting gallery. The Gnomes had spent centuries carving away at the mountains to construct a perfect hallway for defense. Angled in ways that allowed Gnomish soldiers to fire from cover while invading forces had none. To circumvent this, the Dwarves dug their trenches into the earth to give them the cover denied.
This resulted in a stalemate for months as neither side could gain any ground, until Halgier The Second King of Dwarves had taken command with the Krijic clan at the head. Their mounted armored War Boars were more than enough to slowly take take ground as much as mile a day. Cannon fire aimed at the mountains themselves to bury Gnomish forces in rockfall. Any foolish enough to run to safety where gunned down by hoards of Heavy Dwarven Gatling Guns.
The Watchtower Gates:
Had the Dwarves been able to knock down the Long Wall that separated the Fjallen from the Core and The Spire. For the First time in History the Dwarves would have taken Mhuzelt and reclaimed their ancestral homeland from the Gnomes.
However, Halgier and the Krijic were still a formidable force to deal with, even while being pinned down by a constant weeks long defense of gunfire. Halgier devising plan after plan to knock down the walls, many of which were partially successful. His most famous attempt being dubbed The Lance. Halgier had many of his Stjerkaler (Dwarven Mages) charm the local Wyvern populations into submission. He used the Wyverns as a massive diversion on a section of the wall that held the main Gate, as the serpents swept in from the sky this allowed the Dwarves for form up. The positioned a Battalion of War Boars and their mounted cannons aimed directly at the Keystone holding the Gatehouse archway together.
The Shot heard from across the valley, ripped open the Gatehouse allowing a way into The Core. However, both armies were halted before Halgier could enter with his armies. When the dust had settled, and the screams of the dying had silenced. What stood in the Gate was not something either side had expected. Several members of The Eight Divines stood amongst the rubble. Bhal the Great Conqueror stood at the forefront of the group of gods and stated with a voice that could be heard on the Mainland. "Namoux, your two ancient clans had war since The Hammer fall. Those ancient codes still stand, Dwarves. You will never be given the right to claim this land as home again, just as the Gnomes will never be given freedom from their Gilded Cage."
Outcome
The Gnomish Population faced a Depression following the Invasion that they are still recovering from to this day, many of the settlements on the outer rings of the Fjallen had been abandoned as more citizens returned to The Spire for the safety of the Theocrasy and the State. The only City to have come out better during the Conflict was the City of Split Rock that received as massive increase in it's own security to to Galacian forces building proper siege defenses along the port.
Both sides of the Conflict also experienced massive amounts of lose of life, though, the Gnomes fared far worse. Loosing four to one in the death toll.
Aftermath
The Gnomes tarnished many political relationships by attacking a Dwarven allied City on Galacian soil. Putting tension on many of the Embassies inside the nation of Galus. Galus instituting much more stringent terms on Gnomes inside the temporary armistice while Dwarves Wander around the Continent. When the Caliphate attacked the Gnomish Isle during the Fedro-Calphiti War, Galus was conveniently too busy to assist them.
The Gnomish Empire also learned many of its weaknesses against a full scale invasion. Having been right at the edge of losing the war, only to be stopped by Divine Intervention put a fear in the Seven Heads of The Eternal Watchers. They have spent this time fortifying the Valley in the same methodology as the Valley of Mjona, much to the embarrassment of the Gnomes to copy a Dwarven tactic.
The lasting truth has been this: The confirmation of the curse struck on these two peoples. The Namoux that called the Isle of Mhuzelt having had their punishments be announced again to the world. The Dwarves on the brink of victory, the Gnomes inability to form strong alliances and settlements off the Isle, to have this be enforced by the gods. This was the day the Dwarven Wandering State renounced the faith of the Eight Divines, in the way Gjorn Fourth king of Dwarves had been preaching since the Battle of The Black Fortress. The Dwarves and the Gnomes now reminded of the actual limitations of the curse, The Core was immune to Dwarven invasion, but the rest of the Isle was not. The Dwarves have increased their fury of attacking the Isle with the vigor of man searching for his missing daughter in a brothel.
Conflict Type
Invasion
Start Date
1178
Ending Date
1180
Conflict Result
Defeat
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