Six Years' War

The Six Years' War was a protracted civil war between the Trader's Coalition, the Royalist supporters of Sessina Symond, and the Sable Banners (supporters of Albyn Feloss), caused by the death of the King of Greenwood without an heir. Officially, it lasted from 1666 to 1672, though a period of widespread famine between 1668 and early 1672 put the fighting on hold.

Early Conflict (1666-1668)

The Six Years' War began in 1666, three weeks after King Alyur the Penitent died without an heir, when mercenary forces hired by the Hapuri Trade Consortium blockaded the High Road south of Brightriver and demanded that then-Trade Master Alexander Hapuri be crowned by the regent administration. When the administration refused to grant him the kingship, the Hapuri forces invaded Brightriver in an attempt to seize the crown. They were joined by private forces and mercenaries from several smaller merchant guilds who supported Hapuri, forming the Trader's Coalition.

The Battle of Brightriver

Over the next few months of 1666, fighting raged around Brightriver. Direct attacks by Trader forces were repelled; they were too outnumbered to stand against the royal soldiers and militia. However, the royal garrison in Brightriver was too small to risk an assault beyond the walls, and so the land blockade continued. Trader ships likewise patrolled the ocean, attempting to intercept southern craft and cut off trade.
As the fighting reached the end of it's first month, Alexander Hapuri devised one last attempt at a decisive victory. Four hundred Trader soldiers snuck into Brightriver through the ports, encircling the royal palace under cover of night. When the sun rose, they demanded the regents surrender or they would storm the palace and massacre those within. But by bad luck, six days prior a messenger had finally broken through the blockade, and the siege was itself surrounded by reinforcements from Wavemeet. Battle ensued, and the small, trapped Trader force was annihilated.
With the aid of the new reinforcements, the regency broke the blockade and most Trader soldiers scattered. The Hapuri Trade Consortium's ships and warehouses were seized and their main meeting hall burned, and the war seemed to be over for good.

Infighting, Royalists, and Sable Banners

With the Traders seemingly defeated, the regent administration splintered. Two candidates for the throne were found: Albyn Feloss, Alyur's brother and only living relative, and Sessina Symond, another direct descendant of the first King of Greenwood. No agreement could be reached, and the civil war spread throughout the Greenwood Dale as each local lord stood behind one or the other. Skirmishes and raids became common and then nearly constant. Before long the administration realized the extent of the fighting and desperately tried to halt it, but, whether out of fear or of greed, all refused.
In early 1667, the Traders returned, having reinforced their army with mercenaries from the Vloria Desert and even further south. The exact terms of these contracts are unknown; as the the southern empires rarely take interest in the High North Coast, some believe that Alexander promised tribute or even assimilation into one of the empires in return for soldiers. Whether this rumor had any basis in reality is unknown and hotly disputed. Over the course of the year the Traders conducted an extremely successful military campaign, taking control of a quarter of the Greenwood Dale.
By 1668, the war had come to a stalemate, dividing the Kingdom of Greenwood into many small territories controlled by the various factions. As winter began, a widespread crop blight combined with damage and pillaging from the conflict to begin a four-year famine. The war halted for a time as all sides recovered.

Late Conflict (1672) and Aftermath

By 1672, the famine had mostly ended, and in that summer the Traders once again attacked the royalists. In the intervening years, however, the factions had agreed to a truce until victory was secured, and they won battles in rapid succession, crushing the remaining Trader forces. Alexander Hapuri surrendered at the edge of the Greenwood Forest when he and his guards were intercepted as they attempted to flee, and he was executed two weeks later. With his death, the Trader's Coalition disintegrated, and the war soon ended, although the destruction it wrought has endured to the present day. Only a few weeks later, Albyn Feloss died, and the throne passed to Sessina Symond uncontested.