The First Tsuji-Torworth War

The first of many conflicts over Kyokai Shima, the Border Island between the east and the west, between a Kamejin clan from Tsuji and the Lizardfolk states residing in Torworth.

The Settling of Kyokai Shima

The Border Island of the Abral Islands Archipelago was settled first by Tainuki, who then welcomed in Kamejin settlers with open arms.
However, this was not a unified Abral Empire, which would not come until close to the Age of Heroes. No, instead, it was various clans of Kamejin. On Kyokai Shima, the most prominent leading up to the war was the Kinoshita Clan, who controlled the town of Tsuji and the Shi no Yosai. They held a firm grip on the power of the island, and intended to keep that.

Lizardfolk Arrival

It wasn't until Warbler, the first Korvian King began to conquer Udai that the Lizardfolk began to move away from their settlements in the swamps to the west of Udai, directly bordering the Abrals.
Fearing being kicked out of their homes like the city of Grandstone, the Lizardfolk started searching for new places to settle. They had been in danger for long enough, always put against Orcish Clans or Dragon Lords like Reoma the Wretched. The Lizardfolk were used to death, and while it had strengthened them, it had not exactly made hardened warriors. Just people who knew how to avoid death.
A historian has said that:

"The Lizardfolk of the time didn't have an army, nor any way to really combat threats. They just knew how to run, hide, and plead for peace. But that strategy wouldn't work forever."

Eventually, they found Kyokai Shima and settled the small hamlet of Asgate on its south-eastern tip. Since this was close the nest of Reoma the Wretched, the Black Dragon Lord, the Kamejin had hesitated to settle this far. The Lizardfolk, however, already had to deal with Reoma everywhere they went, as he had grown to enjoy tormenting them. They did not mind the proximity.
For the Kamejin, Shi no Yosai was their furthest settlement, built to guard the border from Reoma. They had no intentions of settling beyond it because they thought it was a death trap, but on the western side of it was Tsuji, protected by the Fortress.
A Fortress that looked like a paradise to the Lizardfolk who were seeking safety from Reoma.

Kinoshita Atsushi by Jarhed

Shi no Yosai

Shi no Yosai, or the Fortress of Death, is the headquarters of the Kamejin military, both naval and land forces.
It is made of an unidentifiable black stone, potentially a type of obsidian. It looms at 530ft tall, or about 161.5 meters, and is said to be impenetrable. Therefore, the only way to truly attack it is to infiltrate it somehow, for the walls will not break.
At certain points in time, the Lizardfolk have held the Shi no Yosai, but not for long before it was taken back by the Kamejin.

Eastern Elone

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Towards Conflict

The Owner General of the Lizardfolk, Talrond, the one who led their military and civilian forces approached the Shi no Yosai. The Kamejin were not looking out for ground forces invading, as they knew not of any enemies that could do so, meaning their eyes were only on the skies waiting for a potential attack from Reoma the Wretched. It took them quite some time to notice the arrival of the Lizardfolk. Long enough that by the time they noticed, a town had already been built on the eastern edge of the Shi no Yosai.
It was a naval officer of the Kamejin named Tanaka Ryō who first noticed, as he sailed into the Shi no Yosai, he asked his superior:

"When did we build an eastern settlement on the Fortress?"

— Tanaka Ryō

Of course, they had not. The Kamejin had thought their fortress impenetrable and hadn't noticed that there were those that did not seek to penetrate it, but instead use it for their own protection.
It was the next moments that followed which would shape the world going forward.

From the Lizardfolk Perspective

The Lizardfolk had assumed there would be Kamejin here after their scuffle with them some few hundred years prior. The islands to the west always were generally off-limits to Lizardfolk not by any official ruling, but because they had been driven out by naval attacks.
Before settling, Owner General Talrond had camped out at the Shi no Yosai, knocking on its gates and waiting to meet the Kamejin. After enough time, with no answer, he built Torworth.
He believed they must have known and been alright with their presence. He could not have possibly known that their continued survival in Torworth was due solely to the Kamejin's ignorance towards the east of Kyokai Shima.
When the gate began to open to Shi no Yosai, a group of capable diplomats from the Lizardfolk were gathered to go inside to meet them. They did not truly have diplomats, since there had been no one to have diplomacy with before, so it was instead their best warriors.
Owner General Talrond led the delegation to meet Kinoshita Atsushi at the edge of the Shi no Yosai.
The Lizardfolk expected peace.
When the Kamejin met them outside of the Shi no Yosai, Talrond was confused. He assumed they wanted to see the town, so he offered a tour. Upon being denied, he decided to head towards where he believed the meeting to be. He marched past the Kamejin soldiers right into the Shi no Yosai.
There were few Lizardfolk who could fight that were left behind, but Talrond did not expect a fight. This would undoubtedly be his greatest mistake.
Talrond found that most of the soldiers that were still in the Shi no Yosai were rather confused at his arrival. He assumed Kinoshita just had not mentioned the meeting to them. Perhaps it was supposed to be a secret. For that, Talrond decided not to ask any of the soldiers and just walked forward as if he was meant to be there. He climbed the stairs with his warriors, looking for a meeting room, ultimately reaching the roof of the Shi no Yosai.
There they met, face-to-face. Talrond and Kinoshita.
Talrond explained how he wished to have the protection of the Shi no Yosai, as they already had until this point. To his surprise, Kinoshita denied his request, as if they hadn't done that up until this point anyway. When Kinoshita said they were going to take the town, Talrond just assumed Kinoshita meant the Kamejin would take it as a protectorate and keep the Lizardfolk under their wings. The denial was strange, but Talrond got what he wanted.
Then, the Kamejin began to pick them off. One after another, the best fighters in the Lizardfolk army were being killed without a reason. The Kamejin attacked unprovoked while the Lizardfolk tried to mediate. They had just offered peace and been met with war.
Only one person was able to fight back: Talrond. He dueled against Kinoshita, but found that he had lost the will to fight. All he was able to do was cripple the Kamejin leader's arm before he was cut down.
The main fighting force of the Lizardfolk was dead, but they were not the only army around. There were the Kamejin that stayed in Torworth to kill the civilians... and there was one person who was far more than a civilian still left in Torworth.
The Lizardfolk cowered in Torworth, hoping that Talrond would return. Their prayers were not met with what they wished for. The Kamejin wanted this town for themselves, and they would get it by any means necessary. But the Lizardfolk's fears were assuaged when the Kamejin entered a certain building, intending to kill its resident. A building that housed the one known as Heh.
Heh was a Lizardfolk criminal who had killed her neighbors. She was brought to Torworth in hopes of there being a prison capable of holding her, but when the Kamejin came to kill her, she broke free from her bindings and cut them down.
Heh protected the people of Torworth, killing each and every one of the Kamejin soldiers in the town.
She armed the people of Torworth with weapons from the Kamejin soldiers, and told them to stay back, and if anyone attacks, to just get out of the way. Heh did not mean for them to fight. She only wanted a distraction and a way to intimidate the Kamejin. That was her plan... then, she could kill to her hearts content.
Heh did not care for winning or losing. She only wanted them to pay.
There was no competition in terms of who had the more overwhelming force. There was no Lizardfolk army. It was an uneven battle, but it did not need to be even for Heh to believe she could handle it.
The Kamejin arrived for a battle, and that was exactly what Heh intended to give them. Or rather, it could be called a slaughter, for they never stood a chance. She was sure the Kamejin thought the same for her.
The other Lizardfolk stood strong, putting on the front of an army. They were not ready for Kinoshita to charge at them.
But Heh did not understimate Kinoshita. She knew he was a threat, and therefore she ran back to intercept him, fighting him as Talrond had already done before. The injury inflicted by Talrond crippled Kinoshita's chance in the fight, giving Heh the upper hand.
Heh was thirsty for blood, and in seeing the people cowering, she wanted to protect them. She relentlessly attacked Kinoshita, exploiting his injury until she was able to break his sword and bisect his body.
Now, she gave a speech, hoping to scare the Kamejin into listening. It appeared to work, as a man came out and asked for peace if he let them live in Torworth. Heh agreed to his terms, and peace came between the two warring peoples.

From the Kamejin Perspective

The Kamejin had not fought a war against the Lizardfolk before, but they had done battle once, hundreds of years prior, when the Lizardfolk were migrating from the west to the east via ship, passing through the Abral Archipelago.
The Kamejin had tried to sink their fleet in this ordeal. After all, the Kamejin often did anything they could to keep unknown ships out of their waters.
The Kamejin were not aware there were still Lizardfolk east of their islands, and the appearance of this town of Torworth upset them quite a bit. The Admirals were calling for bombardments, destroying the town.
The Tainuki, however, advocated for peace. After all, the Kamejin had settled on the Tainuki land with peaceful treaties, and they had lived in realtive harmony due to that. The Tainuki didn't see why it had to be any different.
Kinoshita Atsushi led the Kamejin of Tsuji into Torworth to meet with the Lizardfolk.
The Kamejin were prepared for war.
When the Lizardfolk were waiting outside, Kinoshita ordered his men to draw their blades for the impending battle. He led his men towards the town, ready to strike. To his surprise, the Lizardfolk did not even attempt to stop him. They marched past him and infiltrated the Shi no Yosai.
A grave mistake, Kinoshita believed, as he now had cause to claim they attacked first. He ordered half of his men to attack the town and led the other half to defeat this infiltrating force.
Kinoshita rallied the men who had stayed in the fortress, telling them to be on alert and that they were to kill the Lizardfolk that had infiltrated. He was baffled that these invaders had somehow snuck past his trained soldiers. They must have been incredibly skilled. If they didn't kill his men, were they here to steal something? Or to try and take over the fortress? Whatever it was, Kinoshita needed to stop them, so he followed to the roof.
There they met, face-to-face. Kinoshita and Talrond.
Kinoshita told Talrond that this would be the end. He would wipe them out and take their town for the Kamejin so there would be no outside threat to the Shi no Yosai's strategic position. He did not understand when Talrond said they just wanted what they had before, for the only interaction Lizardfolk and Kamejin militaries had was a naval battle. Was Talrond declaring war in hopes of keeping his town of Torworth?
The Kamejin were ordered to kill the Lizardfolk on the roof, and they did so with ease. For some strange reason, the Lizardfolk weren't fighting back. They had declared war, but it appeared the message didn't go through.
It seemed only their Owner General had the will to fight, and so Kinoshita battled the one they called Talrond. He had the strength to break through Kinoshita's defenses and cut his arm, but Kinoshita overpowered Talrond and cut him down.
With Talrond dead, Kinoshita believed that it would be the end for the Lizardfolk. All of the best soldiers were dealt with, and he ordered Tanaka Ryō to call back the soldiers now that they had likely slaughtered everyone in Torworth.
When Tanaka Ryō arrived in Torworth with a small group of soldiers to announce that the Lizardfolk were dead, he found that the Lizardfolk in Torworth were going about their days. He hoped that the soldiers had just decided to co-exist, but as he walked the streets, he found bodies of his men piled up, bloodied and cut up. He now faced the only remaining warrior of Talrond's army: Heh.
Tanaka wanted to run. While his fellow soldiers did not see what one Lizardfolk woman could possibly do, Tanaka knew all too well the danger a lone warrior posed. A single fighter with nothing to lose was more terrifying than a trained army.
Tanaka ran as his men faced down Heh. She eviscerated them leaving no survivors.
Tanaka returned to the Shi no Yosai, warning Kinoshita of the danger and telling him to back down. Kinoshita refused, arming more soldiers to strike against Torworth and leading them himself. Tanaka, all the while, disobeyed orders and didn't march to Torworth. Instead, he led soldiers to return to Tsuji, hoping to avoid bloodshed.
Kinoshita did not want that. He wanted absolute victory.
Kinoshita was confident that he could win. After all, the Lizardfolk didn't want to fight. Talrond was the only one, and Talrond was gone. What could possibly stand against him now?
The Lizardfolk were all waiting with the weapons of his men, and Heh stood at the head, drenched in the blood of Kamejin. She didn't speak a word, instead she rushed against the Kamejin and began to attack.
They were unprepared. She caught many off guard, and those she didn't feared the people behind her.
Kinoshita cared not for Heh. Their other forces would need to be wiped out. He was sure his men could deal with one woman. He underestimated her, not even thinking that he would need to deal with her. She killed many soldiers before she intercepted Kinoshita.
With his injured arm, he didn't stand a chance. She was fierce, stronger than he could have expected, and she broke his blade, leaving him wide open to be cut right in half. And exactly that happened.
Tanaka Ryō had gathered the Tainuki and the soldiers who did not want to fight and arrived now, asking for peace. He gave terms, which Heh agreed to, allowing the Lizardfolk to remain in Torworth under the condition they stop fighting.

Finally, there was peace.

Heh by Jarhed

Summary

To put the tale in shorter terms, the Tsuji-Torworth War was fought in a short span of time, as the Kamejin were, at first, unaware of Lizardfolk settlers in Torworth.
Upon discovering their settlement, Kinoshita Atsushi, who led the Kamejin, was upset at the invasion of their land. Kinoshita invited the great warriors of the Lizardfolk, led by Owner General Talrond, into the Shi no Yosai fortress. Here, the Lizardfolk were ambushed and killed.
Meanwhile, Kamejin forces tried to kill the Lizardfolk in Torworth, who were perceived to be weakened as their warriors were taken out, but the Kamejin were slain by the prisoner Heh, who pushed back against Kamejin invasion and killed Kinoshita Atsushi and many of his men.
Kinoshita’s successor, Tanaka Ryō, made peace with Heh, and the two were able to coexist on the island for a time.

Aftermath

This battle was only a small conflict, only truly called a war when put in context of what would come later. Peace would not last forever, for those who made it would die or seek to circumvent it for their own reasons.
The Shi no Yosai was a fortress of war and death. Peace was unbecoming of it.
Tanaka Ryō went on to lead the people of Tsuji for a time, but ultimately he would be killed in a mutiny by those who sought war again. He went on to be known for his peaceful approach, unpopular but effective.
Heh did not kill again. She had experienced enough death in the war, and had grown protective of the people of Torworth. She asked to lead them, but was refused due to her criminal record. Still, she kept them safe. She died in an attack by Reoma the Wretched eight years after the war.
Heh and Tanaka Ryō never met again.
Their paths crossed once, on the field of battle, then diverting to opposites sides of the Shi no Yosai that now protected both towns.
The main force of Lizardfolk from the mainland never did come to Kyokai Shima. They had hoped it would be peaceful, a place to relax, but the war had shown this would not be possible.

Later Tsuji-Torworth Wars

This conflict would never truly end. It would continuously be postponed by peace treaties or the capture of one of the cities or the Fortress. Each war, one side gained more ground and the other lost it. Some years, Tsuji and the Shi no Yosai were taken by the Lizardfolk, and others the Kamejin would take the entire island all the way to Asgate.
The First Tsuji-Torworth War was tame in comparison to full scale battles that came later. Yet it was a war because it followed the same patterns as those that would come later.
Yet no one could deny the majesty of the peace treaty, when a state of cowards with no military beat back the Kamejin army and made them demand for peace. An unequal war with a balanced end. If only all wars could be that way... or if only there did not have to be such conflicts.